How We Ended Up In Ukraine

As an organization, we did not anticipate war zones, refugees, humanitarian aid, or the displaced on the other side of the world.

In April of 2022, our founder Shannon went through his morning routine. He turned on the news like he did most mornings. As the news came on, it began to tell of the nearly 12 million Ukrainian refugees, half of whom were under 18, pushed from their country and homes because of the violent attack from Russia. Many of those refugees were children who were now involuntarily faced with the trauma accompanied by war and being forced into an unfamiliar environment overnight. Right there, he decided he was going to go.

With a loose plan, he purchased a one-way plane ticket to find young refugees to help them work through the trauma of their displacement and build a network to bring mental health professionals over to help these defenseless children. (Below, you can see updates from that initial work).

After being in Ukraine and the surrounding countries for about a month, he realized the severity of this humanitarian crisis. He became aware of an even more severe issue during this war. There are approximately 12 million refugees, and much help is needed here. But, millions of Ukrainian citizens are left behind stuck in the middle of the war zone. Most of which are the elderly, the poor, or the sick who do not have the means to get out of harm's way because of the infrastructure's destruction and the danger associated. There are little to no services (food, water, medical) going to the places where millions of people still reside and are under attack daily. So, much like the initial decision to go, Shannon partnered up with an organization called A Jesus Mission and began driving food into these war zones.

Each van carries enough food to feed 300 people for 30 days.

The heart of If You Don't Quit You Win has been from its inception to help hurting people. To provide resources. To build bridges of hope. So as we pivot to continue our work serving Students, Parents, Teachers, Coaches, and Administrators across America, we are now also committed to continuing our ongoing work in Ukraine for the undetermined future.

As of December 2023, we have delivered over 3.5 million meals to Ukrainians trapped in the active war zone.