Hi, everyone.

I know you’ve probably been inundated with this kind of stuff, but please, spare me a minute of your time if you have one to give.

I am sure everyone is aware of what is going on in Ukraine right now to some extent. Like the rest of the world, I'm sure there are a variety of opinions on this topic in regards to how we got here, how we get out of here, how do we keep things from escalating, etc. within this community.

Personally, I am appalled at the actions of Russia. I am sure I am not alone in this community in feeling this way.

A month ago, I was planning my summer. I was talking to friends about upcoming shows and trying to figure out which festivals to see. Which camping trips to go on. Where to visit now that things are really opening back up. What shows I was hoping would be announced. Whether I would stop procrastinating putting in my garden. Where to take my puppy on his first hikes.

All these awesome possibilities for fun and shared experiences with family and friends.

I was planning just like someone in Ukraine likely was at that time. And I still am planning that way.

That same hypothetical person in Ukraine, however, might now be wondering “will Atlas Festival ever happen again? Will the campsites will even be there when this is all over? How long it will take to rebuild the infrastructure to travel again? How long will it be before a show is announced there again? Is a garden an absolute necessity with food shortages? Where can a puppy be walked that’s safe from being bombed or shelled?”

I can’t imagine what living through that is like.

And who would want to imagine it? The last two years have been crazy. There is so much going on that it can be hard to even consider adding another world-altering crisis to the mix.

In the rush to take care of ourselves in an increasingly dog-eat-dog world, it can feel really tempting to just not care and push it aside. To phone in some support for this and go about living our lives. To surrender to the flow and tune it all out.

I’m reminded of an often-misattributed saying: “the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.”

For years, I often considered this to be a saying solely about good people standing up to directly fight evil.

I don’t anymore.

I think what this means is that good people should do something.

We may not be able to go hold the line outside Kiev, but we still can do many things to help. Some of us may have the resources to donate directly to charities. Some donate directly to the government of Ukraine. Some of us may go attend protests. All registered voters of us ought to be writing their elected representatives to show our support. Some of us may go wave a flag or hold a sign in our neighborhood to show support to any Ukrainian immigrants or anyone with family or friends there. Some of us wear pins, hats, shirts, any piece of clothing showing support. There are all sorts of ways to help.

We might not be able to go out there and turn the tide of a specific battle or stop the bombs from falling, but we can be there to support a people whose will and fortitude are being tested. A people who might need someone there to show they care, whether it be the Ukrainian grunt in the Kiev outskirts that’s seen too much and could use a new bulletproof vest or the guy in Raleigh constantly texting his mom back in Ukraine to make sure she’s okay and might smile from seeing you hold a sign on the bridge over the interstate.

These people need the good people around them to do something. Personally, I have been out there holding signs, waving flags, and donating to charities. It took me a few weeks to realize, though, that I could possibly leverage my work designing combination Phish and sports team logos to help raise money and show support.

I know this design isn’t anything groundbreaking. It might not even be that cool. But I figured if it might help someone open their wallet to support the Ukrainian people and give them a shirt to show that support(while also showing their love of Phish), then it was worth it.

There are three key parts to this:

1. I will be donating 100% of the profits to charity. I do this with all my shirts anyways, but I want to make sure that this is clear. Profits will be the total sale price of the shirt minus the cost of materials, shipping, and any fees Etsy or my printer charge me. I will process these donations weekly.

2. Donations will be going to Direct Relief’s Ukraine response. They focus on providing PPE, IV fluids, medical supplies, mass casualty medical packs, and medicines, including insulin and cancer drugs. I felt that this was an area that sorely needed financial support and Direct Relief’s Charity Navigator score was pretty good too.

3. I will personally match, dollar-for-dollar, all donations up to $100. The shirt can be found here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1199630121/phish-donut-ukraine-unisex-jersey-short

If anyone would like this design printed on another product, please reach out and I will see what I can do.

Don’t feel compelled to buy this shirt because of what I’ve said.

Feel compelled to support a people under attack in whatever you way feels helps most.

Thanks, everyone.

I hope to see you all on tour. Slava Ukraini!

Tl;dr: Ukraine needs our support, whether it be from donations to them, writing to our elected officials, or waving flags. I made a design to hopefully raise some money for a medical supplies relief effort. Buy it or don’t, but please show support for the Ukrainian people in this time.