MEDIA CENTER

STEPUP4 AND STEPUP4UKRAINE LAUNCHES

May 12, 2022

For Immediate Release

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StepUP4 (Ukraine)

Volunteer Network (Marketplace) to support Ukraine  

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Los Angeles, CA— May 12th, 2022 — Today Tanya Zhuk and StepUP4Ukraine announced its mission to coordinate international volunteer activism in support of the war in Ukraine. The announcement comes as a result of Tanya’s time spent volunteering with refugees at the Polish/Ukrainian border in March and April 2022.

Tanya spent 3 weeks on the ground with various non-profit governmental organizations in Przemysl working in World Central Kitchen cooking her Ukrainian family’s borscht recipe and serving food, aiding mamas with small children day and night, managing anxiety and stress of young and elderly, translating for injured and confused refugees at the SSF (Saviours Sans Fronteras), individually fundraising through GoFundMe and passing goods into Ukraine via Humanitarian drivers she met at the border, partnering with the Norwegian Paracrew to purchase medical supplies and food to deliver to high risk zones within Ukraine.

StepUP4 aims to provide volunteer logistic support digitally and on the ground. StepUP4Ukraine will coordinate on the ground needs for skills, time, and place that the organizations need and match them with volunteers looking to aide in and for Ukraine. StepUP4 digital will provide the much-needed volunteer coordination, communication, guidance, and community. The tool will facilitate appropriate connections and speedy response to the needs at hand.

However, StepUP4 cannot help Ukraine alone. And while Tanya has gained the attention of local developers, investors, designers, and community, StepUp4 needs more funding quickly ramp up production and make this tool available to everyone, fast!

Tanya Zhuk and her family were refugees from the former Soviet Union when they arrived in Brooklyn New York in 1989. Tanya has been an Angeleno since 1997 when she attended University of Southern California. Upon graduating in 2001 with a degree in Communication, she stayed in LA and joined the vibrant advertising community. Tanya’s life was “pretty normal” until 2021 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She overcame several surgeries and chemotherapy and by early 2022 was working on regaining her strength when the war in Ukraine started. Determine to do something she packed her bags to go to help. However, finding a way to align with an NGO proved challenging, most didn’t even respond. Eventually she found a way in and once on the ground she found many more ways to contribute. Noticing logistical inefficiencies, she came back determined to help create a system to help.