Bethenny Frankel is a force to be reckoned with. The former Real Housewives of New York is currently working overtime to help Ukrainians in need. Through her BStrong Foundation, they are raising money and distributing aid to refugees arriving at the Polish border. Other celebs like The Challenge’s Jordan Wiseley and Dancing With The Stars’ Maksim Chmerkovskiy have also been on the ground helping. Bethenny and Maksim have even teamed up in their efforts. Even Ramona Singer is donating 100% of her Cameo fees to BStrong.
Just one month ago, Bethenny had raised $10 million in humanitarian aid. Now, she’s telling Hollywood Life how they have blown that original goal out of the water. To date, Bethenny and the BStrong Foundation, in collaboration with nonprofit partner Global Empowerment Mission (GEM), have raised over $100 million in humanitarian aid. This includes hygiene and survival kits, sleeping bags and cash to get Ukrainian refugees hotels and plane tickets out of the region. Said Bethenny of their work, “It made me realize that we are unstoppable. My focus is helping people whose lives have been ravaged by unforeseen circumstances. They are in desperate need of aid and an immediate solution.”
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She also spoke about being in touch with Maksim, who has shipped several hundred thousand pounds of emergency goods through his own efforts. Bethenny explained, “We told him to see what we are doing because he was looking to do some aid distribution. We are happy to help him in any of his endeavors as these are his people.”
Bethenny continued, “I connected him with my team, and he was blown away at the massive scale of our operation and logistics. He visited one of my warehouses, and he was shook. You have to see it to believe it.” She added, “[Maks] wants to continue to raise awareness and show people the magnitude of our operation. We have the capability to distribute hundreds of millions to billions of dollars in global aid. We provide the vehicle for massive corporations to donate global aid to our warehouses. Then we can facilitate distribution.”
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Bethenny also described how their operation works. Said Bethenny, “We are the hub where many brand name organizations will come to receive aid for their efforts. We are like a free aid distribution center. We started this model in Puerto Rico when we were amassing the nation’s aid. People raise large amounts of money and aid but then have no clue how to distribute either.” She noted, “This is a shockingly common issue when people with no experience do large scale raises with no detailed distribution plan. This is our wheelhouse, skill set, and specialty.”
Through BStrong and GEM, Bethenny arrived at the Polish border on the second day of the war. Once there, they met thousands upon thousands of refugees fleeing the war. To date, over 4 million Ukrainians have left the country seeking safety from the war.
TELL US – ARE YOU SHOCKED AT HOW MUCH BETHENNY HAS RASIED? HOW MUCH MORE DO YOU THINK SHE WILL SEND IN AID? WOULD YOU DONATE TO BSTRONG?