What did Mr. Rogers say? Look for the helpers.
Often, they can be found on the GRM forum. And that help isn’t limited to advice about tires, Miatas and even home improvements. It extends to world events, too, as our online community has been providing humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians. Follow the discussion at grassrootsmotorsports.com/ukraineaid.
The boots on the ground for the effort come courtesy of Bill Grow, known as Hungary Bill on the forum. A pillar of our online community for more than a decade, Grow organizes our holiday gift exchange–even though, as his screen name suggests, he lives in Hungary.
“I originally came to Hungary on a bit of a whim in 2009,” he tells us, adding that he initially figured he and his wife would spend just a few years overseas before returning to Tacoma, Washington. “We never thought we’d get attached to the place and try to stay longterm.”
Grow has helped the forum raise more than 3 million Hungarian forint–nearly 10 grand in American money–to buy essentials for Ukrainian refugees: toys, food, medical supplies and the like. He’s been working with officials in his town of Pápa, Hungary, as well as others across the region.
As of press time, Grow had just delivered a truckload of canned food, drinking water and medical supplies, funded in part by the GRM community, to Lviv, Ukraine, destined to reach frontline medical workers. His 4Runner again carried GRM stickers.
“I don’t think there’s any explanation I could ever give as to why we got the ball rolling,” he tells us. “I think the Grassroots forum family members have always just been people of action. It’s so common for us to see on the forum now that we joke about it, but the members of our community routinely and successfully tackle situations that are comically larger than our individual selves or abilities.
“I think that when our community saw what was happening in Ukraine, we simply knew that something needed to be done. So we got to work doing it. We’ll figure out the rest along the way, right?”
Hungary Bill has really showed the GRM value system of helping our neighbors and making the world we all inhabit a better place. He has branched out to to his whole network to make this happen. Most recently he has made a personal trek into active war zones to deliver critical medical supplies and humanitarian aid.
Thank you Bill and GRM family for you efforts!!!
Bill is leading the charge, the rest of us are just followers.
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