KEPYR (Kids Entertainment Professionals for Young Refugees) is calling on the kids’ media industry to help bring urgent aid to over 1.5 million children and their families displaced by the humanitarian crisis currently unfolding in the Ukraine.
Donations to KEPYR’s Emergency Ukraine Refugee Relief Drive can be made at kepyr.org.
UNICEF has launched an emergency appeal [NMC2] to raise the $276 million to sufficiently scale up relief efforts across the Ukraine. In addition, UNICEF is also appealing for another $73 million to assist those fleeing to Poland, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary and elsewhere. UNICEF and partners are working to meet rapidly escalating humanitarian needs, including emergency medical services, critical medicines, health supplies and equipment, safe water for drinking and hygiene, and shelter and protection for children and families displaced from their homes.
“The situation is dire, the humanitarian need growing daily. The suffering, shock and trauma is almost unimaginable,” noted Grant Moran, President & Founder of KEPYR. “Luckily, thanks to organizations like UNICEF USA, we can take action. Acting together, we can make an immediate, concrete difference and be a force of light against the terrible darkness these vulnerable children and their families are living through right now. We encourage everyone in the children’s media community to give generously.”
Honored by the White House in 2021 with a President’s Volunteer Service Award for “dedicated service to children around the world,” KEPYR was founded by industry professionals in 2017 to spread awareness in the children’s media community about the global child refugee crisis, the worst since WWII, and to rally support for UNICEF’s heroic work serving displaced children everywhere.
The organization’s Board of Directors is composed of Grant Moran, Yang Chang, Chara Campanella, Aurora Simcovich, Johnny Hartmann, Scott Gray and Monica Dollive. Serving on KEPYR’s Advisory Board are Christopher Keenan, Jean Thoren, Greg Payne, Jo Kavanagh-Payne, Maca Rotter, Danielle Gillis, Ryan Gagerman, Martin Baynton, Gushi Sethi, Sabrina Propper, Dave Palmer, and Sebastian Rich.
