**Update:
Friday, August 16, 2024
1,200,000 refugees have poured out of Ukraine
Alight’s response team of seasoned humanitarian and emergency response workers has been deployed to Poland, which has received the most Ukrainian refugees. The team includes members of Alight’s humanitarian team who responded to the Yugoslav Wars in the 90s and 00s – the last widescale conflict in Europe. The team has been authorized to do the doable and allocated funds to act immediately to satisfy the needs of refugees they meet. They are talking to Ukrainian families and organizations responding to understand the best ways Alight can help.
“Alight stands with the people of Ukraine,” says Alight CEO Jocelyn Wyatt. “If Ukrainian families can’t go home, Alight will help them to find peace and safety wherever they shelter. We’re listening to what they need right now, and we’re working to make sure they have all the essentials.”
After 40+ years doing this work, we know that families won’t just be worried about their basic needs. They’ll be thinking of loved ones. And they’ll be wondering what comes next, what this all means for their lives. So, beyond ensuring basic needs, Alight will do everything we can to help people cope with the situation and grapple with what to do next.
“I can imagine what Ukrainian families are going through right now” states Alight Emergency Response Team Leader Igor Radonjic. “My family experienced the horrors of war in the Balkans in the 1990s and I was forced to flee myself. Our team will meet families where they are and amplify what they tell us so that people around the world can help Ukrainian families in the most meaningful ways possible.”
The response team is also connecting with local actors and organizations that are also helping Ukrainians, to see where we might coordinate and amplify each other's efforts.
