On Thursday, BP4K traveled to two refugee centers on the outskirts of Cologne and handed out backpacks to children. Along comes Markus…

Marcus

Marcus came to Germany with his mother/grandmother when his father told them to leave Berezivka…it was no longer safe. This little boy has never, in his life, owned a lego set. I didn’t see him open his backpack from BP4K, but I did hear a little boy yelling, ”LEGOS, LEGOS, LEGOS!! over on a sidewalk, so I went investigate. An Interpreter helped me understand what he was saying. He couldn’t believe on this particular day, that legos would come to him from America. I swiftly got up, walked 30 yards away behind the building and began sobbing uncontrollably.

It hurts to realize that these children are fleeing a very dark situation…but Marcus was smiling. How could that be? I usually keep it together, but this one hurt, and it hurt deep. After gaining my composure, I went back to the van and Markus was still there. He came up to me and hugged my leg. We finished up our trip by handing out a bunch of candy that you have provided and waved goodbye to Markus and the others.

On NGO’s

The work being done here in Europe by hundreds of thousands of volunteers and thousands of NGO’s is difficult to explain. The official governments have very little control or influence on what small NGO’s can and can’t do. So in a way, its been a steep learning curve. But like most things in life, the cream rises to the top. The NGOs who are extremely focused and stay true to their abilities, are the ones that succeed. And more often than not they succeed because they partner with other NGOs that fill in the pieces of the puzzle. That is exactly what Operation BackPack4Kids has done. We have tapped the most talented and educated people in our ranks to oversee certain aspects if what we do, and we are succeeding in an amazing way.

In closing:

Send us LEGOS, candy, coloring books, socks and underwear*… give us backpacks and money! I will personally promise you that it will NOT end up in some pile of stuff at a RedCross warehouse, but it will go into the hands of these children who appreciate it more than you can know. Operation BackPack4Kids has truly changed my life for the better, and it can change yours too if you let it.

With gratitude and appreciation to all who have made this possible,

William “Stevie Ray” Vaughan
Founder and Executive Director
Operation BackPack4Kids

* Please review our How to Make a Backpack page before sending any provisions.

***PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT***

Today in Zaporizhia, Ukraine (110 miles from Maripol) at one of the only schools still trying to function… This principal gave out 25 of our backpacks to kids who are still coming to school. They asked if they could have 10 more…. Because 10 kids didn’t get one. Let that sink in for a minute. 10 kids, living in a war zone, trying to go to school, didn’t get a backpack. (By the way, we can build 10 backpacks for $250.00 and have them delivered inside the Ukraine).

There are people working behind the scenes helping our little mom & pop grassroots operation that don’t have too. But we hit the ground in the early days of this tragedy and have since worked 24 hours a day to build a trustworthy logistics line that is working. These pictures prove it. When doors closed on us, we kept knocking until one opened. We captured over 80 contacts from people working in and around the border area in 48 hours… and it paid off. Now, several NGO’s are co-dependent on each other and the machine is running on its own. We also have direct contact with Polish, German, Ukrainian, and American government personal to insure we are not putting our people in direct danger.

What we have pulled off is beyond extraordinary. Just a bunch of pilots with big hearts and tears in their eyes who said… “Nope, done laying down on this one! I’m doing something about it.” And you have. You delivered backpacks to children in a war zone. We were told it will never work, you don’t have the necessary tools for this, leave it to the big boys to do the humanitarian aid… Aren’t you glad we didn’t listen to that?

If you have donated money, time, or backpacks… Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I honestly had no clue this would unfold the way it did, but it has been the most amazing thing I’ve seen a pilot group do in my 28 years of flying. If you haven’t donated, there’s still time… because there are still 10 school kids in Zaporizhia that need a backpack.

I am also forever grateful to the IPA pilots I work with, and their families…

William ‘Stevie Ray’ Vaughan

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022

Operation Backpack4kids launched our in-house donation platform on Tuesday via backpack4kids.org. “Bringing donations in-house allows BP4K to significantly reduce the fees associated with mainstream crowdfunding platforms,” says Bill Vaughan, BP4K’s Global Director of Operations. Donors will initially be able to use any credit card of their choosing to place a donation. PayPal and Venmo options are also available. Persons interested in donating can visit: backpack4kids.org/donate-now or fill out the form below.

From BP4K’s Director of Operations, Bill Vaughan:

*** GIANT THANK YOU TIME***

It was kinda sad to see Cassandra walk to the train station this morning as she makes her way back home. We lost count of the hours she donated, but without a shadow of doubt, she gave 14-16 hours a day, EVERY SINGLE DAY she was here. She walked 8 miles a day or more shopping for the backpacks, and it only took her about 40 minutes to figure everything out, and run with it. Not only did she give up her life to come over to Cologne and run the daily refugee center/studio 7 room, she made the whole process better. I will say it again, she left us in a better position than she found us. And for that we will always be grateful. Cassandra, from all of us at BP4K, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Here is a little photo gallery from Cassandra’s time in CGN.

The team at Backpack4kids is pleased to announce a partnership with Venmo for donations to our organization. This is the first of many planned donation options being made available to you in order to maximize the efficiency of your contributions. Stay tuned for more….

Click here to donate using Venmo.

April 27th, 2022

***SPECIAL UPDATE***

PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT!

Our first FedEx shipment of backpacks has arrived in Cologne, cleared customs, and has been delivered to the RedCross warehouse.

From humble beginnings with just an idea to help these suffering children anyway possible… Operation BackPack4Kids has transformed into a Global operating NonProfit Corporation in less than sixty days! And we haven’t even scratched the surface of what is possible. When people like you, open up your hearts, time, resources, and wallets… BIG things can happen.

In those first few days the questions were asked, “how can you do this and make it happen? The odds are against you, you aren’t a 501c3, and you have no corporate partners.” ….

Not only did YOU make it happen, you did it in grand style. And the odds? We didn’t beat them, we crushed them!

April 26th, 2022

***SPECIAL UPDATE***

Our partnership with NGO groups continues to grow through our networking skills on the ground. A small, but much needed shipment of humanitarian aid arrived this morning in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Some of the heaviest fighting yet is taking place there. We were lucky enough to have 14 backpacks delivered deep into the Ukraine where families are fleeing for their lives. These shipments are dangerous for the men taking them, but we are grateful for their courage and desire to help the needy.

We will continue our mission to supply our backpacks to children throughout Europe who have been displaced and we won’t stop as long as we receive the money and donations to make this happen.

With bags flowing to refugees daily, keeping our backpack building supplies in stock can be a challenge. On Wednesday, April 20th, 2022, Cassandra Zelesnikar, OB4K CGN operations manager, FedEx pilot Matt Corey, and IPA 747 pilot Andre Fairbanks hit the streets of Cologne, Germany looking for supplies.

Ikea is always a gold mine for us. Finding large numbers of small sized stuffed animals and water bottles can be difficult but Ikea always seems to have some for us.

With a truck load of supplies the team headed back to our operations center at the Marriott Cologne to unload and restock our shelves. Backpacks will be built over the next few days using these supplies as we also prepare for the arrival of our first shipment of backpacks from Louisville, KY.

We must thank the Marriott Cologne once again as none of this could be possible or economical without their generosity.

Wednesday, April 20th, 2022

OB4K volunteers met at Bowman Field (airport) in Louisville, KY on Wednesday to prepare around 1,000 backpacks for shipment to Germany utilizing our FedEx partners. Your backpacks were organized according to age groups and packed tightly into prefabricated shipping boxes. These boxes were completely filled then sealed with an industrial-grade celophane wrap before being transported to FedEx for air delivery. The bags take off on April 21, 2022 and will be in the hands of refugee children shortly after. This is your work, your donations, your support!

Stay tuned as we follow these bags on the rest of their journey…

– Team OB4K