The former star of The Real Housewives of New York Bethenny Frankel has been working tirelessly to provide relief for Ukraine, and she has raised $25 million through her foundation BStrong. Fans and other celebrities such as Dancing With The Stars’ Maksim Chmerkovskiy praised Bethenny for her incredible work. Maksim was stranded in Ukraine at the time of the invasion and was briefly arrested for breaking curfew. However, the authorities recognized him as one of Dancing With The Stars’ judges and let him go. Maksim was able to take a train to Poland and safely make it back to the US.
Bethenny was quick to jump into action as soon as word hit that Russia had invaded Ukraine. She told fans that she and her BStrong organization were taking a plane to Poland to set up a base camp to help refugees and distribute supplies. She urged people to donate through her website, as 100% of the money will go towards the relief effort. The money that’s being donated is funding supplies such as food, water, baby products, feminine hygiene care, and blankets. Bethenny also told fans that each donation to BStrong is helping a Ukrainian refugee buy a train ticket out of the country.
Bethenny has been keeping fans up-to-date on her Twitter feed. She praised people for donations coming in every few seconds and the $1 million count soon went up to $5 million. On March 4, Bethenny tweeted, “BSTRONG UPDATE: we have committed 15m in aid & have raised over TEN MILLION DOLLARS in $ donations for the refugee relocation program. This is MAJOR.” Bethenny also shared in a recent Instagram story that BStrong is partnering with various clothing, food, and housing companies to help refugees in their relocation process. “Thousands of people in lodging and you already knew that we already partnered with travel companies for trains and planes, so it’s planes, trains, lodging, food, and clothing for refugees and aid going in,” she told her IG viewers.
Since the official launch of BStrong in 2017, Bethenny, who has donated to many charitable causes, and her team have helped victims of natural disasters in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Haiti. Bethenny thanked The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Garcelle Beauvais, who is of Haitian descent, for her efforts in helping the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Garcelle acknowledged the shout-out and fans loved how the Real Housewives women were supporting each other, despite being on different franchises. Many praised Bethenny and Garcelle for bringing awareness to the cause in Haiti and giving a platform for fans to reach out and donate money to a good cause.
Bethenny and her BStrong team are still putting all their efforts into providing a safe haven for Ukrainian refugees. Many fans are reaching out to ask how they can help besides making monetary donations. Bethenny, who was slammed as a "nobody" by a fellow RHONY castmate, asked if any film students would be willing to donate their time and efforts to document this endeavor. She also extended her humanitarian efforts to displaced pets and has assured fans that BStrong will always take care of animals. Bethenny and her team continue to take donations for relief efforts and are constantly posting updates on social media to maintain awareness on how to help Ukraine during this troubling time.
Source: Bethenny Frankel/Twitter, Bethenny Frankel/Instagram