Bay Area relief groups worry about donor fatigue impacting upcoming events
SAN FRANCISCO - Bay Area Ukraine relief groups say donations are dwindling as the war drags on. The groups are holding daily fundraisers and rallies in the coming days and are hoping attendance will not be impacted by donor fatigue.
Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Bay Area humanitarian aid groups have collected donations and held fundraising events.
"Unfortunately we are observing significant donor fatigue, where we were getting more donations at the beginning of the war and now 70 days later we see donations trickling down," said Nick Bilogorskiy, co-chair of the non-profit Nova Ukraine.
Bilogorskiy says there is still great suffering and great need for aid to the Ukrainian people.
"Every day Ukraine continues to be like a 9/11 in the U.S.," said Bilogorskiy, "I just heard from my native Kharkiv where a friend of mine has lost his parents in a rocket attack and it's deeply tragic, and it's happening every day, and it's not okay."
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said Thursday they have records of 6,731 civilian casualties since Russia invaded Ukraine February 24th.
"We know the real figures are considerably higher," said Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights.
The U.N. also says there are now an estimated at 5.7 million refugees.
"The most acute problems as we see is trying to feed everyone and getting food everywhere it's needed," said Bilogorskiy.
This weekend will be a series of events for Ukraine including a "We Stand with Ukraine" concert Friday at 8 p.m. at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.
Also Friday, Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley will host a fundraising concert with the Arizae Foundation. Tickets are sold out, but they plan to livestream the concert on YouTube and are asking people to donate what they can.
Saturday, a rally is planned for 2 p.m. in San Francisco at the Ferry Building.
Sunday, the group Lighthouse Ukraine Bay Area is planning a gathering at 12 noon at the Bechtel International Center at Stanford University.
On Monday at 7:30p.m. there will also be a fundraising "Concert of Compassion" at the Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco, with musicians from the San Francisco Symphony and world-famous singer Frederica Von Stade.
"News moves on so quickly, or people's attention moves on so quickly, so I feel that having this very inspirational concert...will just let people know the concern is still there," said Corey Christopher, Manager of Congregation Sherith Israel.
The concert proceeds will benefit Nova Ukraine and World Kitchen. Organizers hope to funds and spirits, using music as a bridge between communities.
"It's alarming how dire the need is," said Jonathan Dimmock, the music director, concert organizer, and founder of the Resonance Project which is sponsoring the event.
"We are bringing together Ukrainian composers and American composers into the same program. We're also bringing together Russian musicians and Ukrainian musicians," said Dimmock, "To show how bridges can be built through music."
Jana Katsuyama is a reporter for KTVU. Email Jana at jana.katsuyama@fox.com and follow her on Twitter @JanaKTVU or Facebook @NewsJana or ktvu.com.