Samaritan’s Purse: A New Beginning
When war broke out in Ukraine in early 2022, families were forced to leave behind everything they knew in search of safety. Three of those families found a new beginning here in Metro Atlanta through our partnership with Samaritan’s Purse, a global relief organization providing spiritual and physical aid to those impacted by crises.
As you can imagine, the transition was challenging for many of the refugees, especially the children. Vlada was only 10 years old when she left her home in Ukraine and stepped into a 5th-grade classroom in a country where she didn’t even know the language—much less the culture. She missed her friends, her routines, and the familiar streets she had always known. Meanwhile, her parents were learning to navigate an entirely new country while working to meet their family’s most basic needs.
Thanks to your generosity through Be Rich, Vlada and her family, along with two other families like Vlada’s, were connected with a group of North Point families who walked alongside them for their first year in the United States. Your giving funded essentials like clothing, home furnishings, and school supplies.
Where there were gaps, volunteers gladly stepped in—connecting these families with safe housing, reliable transportation, and help navigating everything from school enrollment to medical appointments. They even worked with our other Be Rich partners like North Fulton Community Charities to enroll Vlada and her family in English classes.
Almost four years later, Vlada is preparing to start high school, and she is fluent in English and confident in her studies. She’s also old enough to reflect on what this support has meant:
“I just wanted to say a big thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Vlada shared with one of the volunteers who sponsored them. “You’ve been there for me and my family since the very beginning, when we came to America, when things were confusing and hard, and when I didn’t even know English, you helped us with so much—money, documents, support—and I’ll never forget it… I’m so grateful that you’ve been part of my journey. I wouldn’t be where I am today without people like you.”
Vlada wasn’t the only one forever changed by the experience. In the words of one of the volunteers, “You go through this, and you become family. They’re a part of my family now.”
Because of your support, three Ukrainian families displaced by war didn’t just survive—they began again. For Vlada, that meant finding her voice in a new language and stepping into classrooms with confidence. Your generosity helped turn an unfamiliar place into a home, strangers into family, and challenges into opportunities.
