Not long after the shelling began in Ukraine, Daniil Cherkasskiy got a phone call from a close friend. The surrogate mother of his friend's twins, trapped in Kyiv, had given birth at 33 weeks. But, unfortunately, the babies were in dire need of preemie formula.

Local pharmacies were blocked by Russian gunfire. Daniil began working through the night to help coordinate the delivery of the formula. Through a series of connections, he met Natalia, a real estate agent, and young mother. Instead of evacuating, she stayed, narrowly escaping shelling as she drove from pharmacy to pharmacy — risking her life for a stranger's babies. The first link of trust was established.

That moment led to a launching of a Chicago nonprofit called Ukraine TrustChain, made up of primarily Ukrainian immigrants who are working to fund six teams on the ground in Ukraine to meet citizens' most critical daily needs – food for bomb shelters, sleeping pads, evacuations of senior homes, baby formula, etc.

I invited Daniil on the podcast to learn more about his story and how the Ukraine TrustChain tech has facilitated the evacuation of more than 23,000 Ukrainian refugees.

More info - https://www.ukrainetrustchain.org/