Last week @natemook @seblindstrom and I visited our @wckitchen partners in Zaporizhzhia. One of the most affecting places was the refugee reception point in the Epitsentr parking lot. There, young and motivated volunteers provide warm meals to cars loads of refugees, the vehicles often riddled with shrapnel and bullet holes. The volunteers never know how many will actually make it and struggle to anticipate the true numbers. Sometimes a 1000 will arrive unexpectedly, and then a planned convoy will be turned around by Russian checkpoints, demoralizing the teams who had worked tirelessly to prepare thousands of meals that will go uneaten. We listened to these issues and worked with the volunteer teams to provide a healthier version of an MRE that can be stored and then heated when unexpectedly high numbers arrive. The amount of refugees from Mariupol has dropped significantly in recent days, with as many as 33,000 forcibly diverted to Russia and Crimea, but thousands more are still pouring in from all over Donbas, Melitopol and Kherson as a new Russian offensive looms. 1. A family from Melitopol await instructions on where to go next. 2/3. Most cars show damage. The ICRC does not allow private citizens to put a red cross on their car, so they tape the word ДЕТИ “children” to alert Russians. However the effectiveness of this isn’t assured, I saw many cars in Bucha destroyed on the side of the road with the same announcement. 4. Lina, the volunteer coordinator at the reception center in Zaporizhzhia returned to Ukraine from vacation in Cypress at the start of the war. She provides refugees with basic needs, smiles, and a warm welcome. 5. Message board in the children’s center. 6. "People of Mariupol! If anyone knows about the fate of Pravoberezhnyi (Hrets'ka St., 207) Looking for: Dudko Alexander & Dudko Valentina PLEASE CALL WITH ANY INFORMATION!" 7. [ ] 8. "I will fix your damaged car windows using transparent clear plastic -Andrei" 9. Lina is constantly collecting toys for the children whose families often arrive with nothing, sometimes not even a bag