Getty Maks and Val Chmerkovskiy
“Dancing With the Stars” professional dancers and brothers Maksim and Valentin Chmerkovskiy are asking fans for help for Baranova27, the organization their father Aleksandr founded to help the people of Ukraine during the ongoing Russian invasion.
The program has built houses and provided a community for refugees, but in a recent video, Val shared an update about the future of the organization and asked fans for their help.
“It is day 267 of Baranova27, and this holiday season, we are asking you for your help for us to meet our year-end goal,” Val says in a newly uploaded video. “Temperatures are dropping, the snow is falling in Ukraine, and unfortunately, there are a lot of families displaced without shelter, without warmth, and so we are asking for your help.”
The Chmerkovskiys Are Asking Fans to Raise Money for Baranova27
Val said in the video that the organization wants to build more shelters to provide a home and warmth for the families that need it throughout the colder months. He challenged fans to help raise funds for the organization.
He also shared that the person who raises the most money for the organization is eligible for a prize including a video call from the Chmerkovskiy brothers, tickets to the “Dancing With the Stars” winter tour, and tickets to any “Dance With Me” event in 2023.
There are multiple prizes available for top fundraisers for the organization.
The next video shared showed fans how to become a fundraiser, which is the way to become eligible for prizes and outlined exactly what the prizes are for first through third place.
“According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 6.6 million Ukrainians are internally displaced within their country. As temperatures dip below freezing, many families have no place to call home,” Baranova27 shared on Instagram after announcing the contest.
Fans Have Thanked the Chmerkovskiys for Their Charity
In the comment section of the video, fans thanked Val for his help.
“Thank you for thinking of ways to help those in Ukraine,” one fan wrote. “Shelter, and keeping warm are what people need to live. It’s an absolute necessity. Good luck to everyone participating in fundraising to help improve the living conditions of Ukrainians.”
Another person wrote, “Thanks for help. Who can donate – please donate, or rent house on airbnb in Ukraine. I’m live in Kharkiv, in my area no heating 2 mons, electricity couple hours in day.”
Val and Maks are both Ukrainian, and Maks was in Ukraine when the Russian invasion began on February 23, 2022.
The professional dancer, who is 42 years old, was in the process of filming the Ukrainian version of “World of Dance” when the invasion began. He updated his followers throughout his time in Kyiv and through his journey across the border into Poland on March 2, 2022.
He later went back to Poland to help with relief efforts after feeling “guilty” for leaving the country.
Chmerkovskiy later opened up in an interview with Anderson Cooper about that guilt. He said that he’d been helping organize relief efforts on the ground and that “military personnel” told him it was time to leave the country because it was going to get “crazy.”
“I felt really bad going, and the feeling sunk in even worse because, when I got to the train station, I realized that it’s all women and children, and that literally, I’m too big, and I’m taking up space,” he said.
“Dancing With the Stars” is set to return in the fall of 2023 on Disney+ for season 32.