Suburban woman uses Airbnb reservation as donation to help family in Ukraine
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A creative approach to helping some of the families suffering in Ukraine. People are now paying for Airbnb's they will never stay in.
CBS 2's Sabrina Franza spoke to one renter in the far southwest suburbs and the family in Ukraine she rented from.
The meeting was remarkable, filled with emotion and tears. We met on Zoom with a translator.
The power of the internet connecting people in their time of need.
"For us, seeing people from other countries just willing to give their money away, so easily, in such huge amounts it's very supporting and very inspiring."
Bagirov Amin is alone, without his family, in Kyiv. Now, he has friends looking out for him a world away.
"I wanted to do that to send some funds directly to them if they could use them."
Lenore Erickson is in Morris, 65 miles southwest of Chicago. She rented his Airbnb property and got this response for the dates she requested, "We're not even sure that we will be alive until then."
She had no plans of visiting Ukraine. Only for her reservation to serve as a donation.
"It's right there, it's right at your fingertips and you can just help anyone across the world if they need it."
"He thanks you very much. You are superhuman."
Amin sent his two daughters and 3-year-old son to Romania for safekeeping.
"His son and he's young, 3-years-old. It's hard for him to explain why daddy isn't here right now. Why he can't go to his dad, and why he can't go to Romania."
As we shot this zoom, shots rang out.
"Just now, there was shooting, most likely Ukrainian artillery shooting at Russian positions"
Airbnb told us this is a growing trend to get money straight to families and remove the normal fee.
"The world is looking at this devastation and wondering how we can help," said Sam Randall, Airbnb senior communications manager.
After this is over, these two people turned friends have plans of reconnecting.
If you ever come to the United States, we'll be having a place for you
And they're waiting for you too. everyone's waiting for everyone.
Amin told us that he's using 50 percent of the money from Airbnb to buy food for himself and send it to his children. The other half is going to fund the Ukrainian army.