Betney Frankl joined the action to help Ukrainians flee the Russian invasion.
On Thursday, the day the takeover began, Betney, 51, said she was preparing to send supplies to NATO countries bordering Ukraine through its organization B Strong.
Frankel’s organization has pledged $ 10 million in aid, but announced on Friday that it has already raised its target to $ 20 million.
Acting: Betney Frankl gets involved in action to help Ukrainians flee Russian invasion
The former Real Housewives Of New York star has documented efforts to help her Instagram account by posting a video of boxes packed with consumables by members of her B Strong team and her warehouse full of countless boxes.
Frankl gave fans real-time updates on the situation in various videos posted on her account.
In her latest update, Betheny revealed that her team works mainly with women and children, as young men have been asked to stay in Ukraine to defend their country.
“We are really dealing with women and children at the Polish border. We just had an accident with a woman whose husband was taken out of the car, they took him because he is Ukrainian and the men can’t leave, so he has never held a gun in his life and is now a soldier.
“We really deal with women and children”: Frankel gave fans real-time updates on the situation in various videos posted to her account
“So she comes with her family and we have to take her family to Spain, where she has a family, because she has no family in Poland.
“So now a lot of money goes to individual cases and families through cash cards and plane tickets. So we are initially trying to raise money, initially only $ 100,000 for these families, to try to get them where they need to go. This also happened during Hurricane Maria, when people had to go home for various situations.
“But we deal mostly with women and children, unless men are young men.”
She also revealed her $ 20 million aid target in another video released Friday.
“Our team is in Poland and will reach the border of Budomez – Khrushchev … in an hour and a half.
“It’s a crisis”: The former Real Housewives Of New York star documents her efforts to help her Instagram account by posting a video of boxes packed with supplies from members of her B Strong team and her warehouse full of countless boxes
“One family runs away every ten minutes and comes to this very border. We have pledged $ 10 million in aid. These are 40 containers containing $ 250,000 in aid each. Our goal now is $ 20 million in aid, which will be 80 containers.
“If it becomes a mass exodus, it will require 100 containers, which we did before, we did with Hurricane Maria and Irma.”
Speaking with peopleBetheny said her organization is able to act quickly as it already has a warehouse full of $ 16 million in aid.
“We can just be very fast”: Speaking to people, Betheny said her organization is able to act quickly because it already has a warehouse full of $ 16 million in aid.
“Here, we can just be very fast,” she told People. “We are very immediate because we already have a warehouse full of $ 16 million in aid.”
The aid includes 100,000 crisis kits containing basic items, including blankets, sleeping bags and water.
Frankel told People that her organization has begun sending kits to Poland, where they will set up refugee camps and distribute supplies by Monday.
The containers shipped contain $ 250,000 in donations from partners such as Goya, Delta and Away.
“These are the things that people will need immediately if they are relocated. Only basic, basic needs, “Betheny said of the supplies being sent.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, considered Moscow’s most aggressive operation since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
By the end of the day, the Ukrainian government had announced that 137 civilians and soldiers had been killed. Several explosions were heard in the capital Kiev early this morning as Russian forces continued their attack.