Be Human. Be Kind.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed humans can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” —Margaret Mead
Our Team
Katie
Stadler
Founder
Meet Katie. A Texas mother of 4 from Fort Worth, Texas. Katie and her husband Matt became connected to Ukraine in 2015 through an international host program that brings Ukrainian orphans to America for short-term placement in families. Katie and Matt hosted their first Ukrainian orphan in December 2016. They quickly fell in love and started the international adoption process to adopt their 15-year-old "son". Unfortunately their adoption was not finalized. However, their family hosted several more Ukrainian orphans over the years. During this time, Katie visited Ukraine and fell in love with the culture and country.
As soon as the war started, through her relationships with Ukrainian based orphanages, adoption agencies and faith based organizations, Katie started fundraising and delivering humanitarian aid inside Ukraine. Her fundraising efforts allowed for a local church in the Nickolaev region, to purchase a 13 passenger van to evacuate people to the closest borders. Generous donations from friends and family were used to purchase hundreds of food items needed for families waiting to evacuate.
After weeks of assisting the Humanitarian crisis from aboard, Katie traveled to Warsaw, Poland. She worked with non-profits providing immediate need for shelter, food and safety. Katie housed refugee families in a local church and assisted in their relocation to 4 countries across Europe. She also spent numerous days in the Warsaw train stations connecting with refugee families and helping fund immediate needs such as transportation, child care and housing. Katie also spent time on the Medyka border, the largest border crossing out of Ukraine, welcoming families who left their homes and lives behind and traveled to another country with nothing but what they can carry. These experiences provided her with a comprehensive view of the refugee crisis and the complicated network of services needed for refugees to relocate.
It was during this time on the front line that Katie noticed the urgent need for humanitarian aid and services for resettlement assistance for refugees. BeHumanKindness was founded from this experience and the time she spent with refugees hearing their stories and future hopes.
Linda
Annis
Director of Development
Linda grew up in Dallas, Texas and was raised in a cross-cultural family. Her father was from Hungary. He escaped during the 1956 revolution and met my mother through the methodist church in Ticonderoga, New York. Linda has one brother who is 14 months older than her, and they both now live in Fort Worth, TX.
In college, through Campus Crusade for Christ (now known as Cru) Linda learned what it meant to have a relationship with God, how to study the Bible and disciple others. After spending a year in Hungary with Cru, God sparked in her a desire for ministry and missions. In the years that followed, she started volunteering in youth ministry at a local church, traveled to Italy on a mission trip and graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a Masters in Cross-cultural Ministry. God used all of this to take Linda to Italy where she spent five years in Bologna, building relationships and sharing her faith.
Linda met her husband, DJ, in 2012 when she was back in Dallas for six months after four years away. Linda went back to Bologna for another six months during which time DJ came to visit and proposed. She moved back to Texas, and we got married in May 2013. Together now they have three married daughters and twelve grandkids.
Linda has had various jobs and volunteer positions that have all played into equipping her for working with BeHumanKindness. She feels privileged to help others in the same way that her father was helped. He passed away in September 2019 and she knows he would be proud.
For fun, she loves to cook, especially Italian food. Linda and her husband enjoy taking their dog, Harli, to the Trinity Trails when the weather is nice. Her grandkids bring joy to her heart and is grateful to have two of them close by who she gets to see on a regular basis.
Yana
Serhiivna
Home Away from Home House Manager
Meet Yana. Yana and her daughter, Katya, are originally from Zelenodolsk, Ukraine. She is a graduate of the Odessa National Polytechnic University specializing in thermal power plants engineering. Until very recently, Yana has worked as a commercial agent at the Cisdnieper Railways, a regional operator of the Ukrainian Railways, headquartered in Dnipro. She worked there for over 14 years and talks fondly of her work family. Living in Poland since March, Yana has helped her work family find resources for evacuating Ukraine and sends as much aid and money back to Ukraine as she can for her colleagues who are fighting on the front lines. Yana has also taken courses in psychology as an additional enrichment activity at the local House of Pioneers in Zelenodolsk.
Katya is 10 years old and has been attending school in Poland since April. She loves all things girl. She looks forward to when Katie comes to visit because they get to go shopping together. Katya's dad is fighting for Ukraine in the eastern regions. He calls her daily and is greatly missed in her daily life.
Once the war in Ukraine broke out, Yana's hometown turned into a target for Russian shelling and heavy bombardment. Today, Yana’s native Zelenodolsk lies about 10 miles east of the front line. A loving mother, Yana has a 10-year-old daughter Katya; she and Yana had no choice but to leave for Warsaw,
Yana and Katya were one of the first refugees that Katie and BEHUMANKINDNESS met on March 22, 2022, at the Central Train Station. They are very special as they inpspired the framework for BEHUMANKINDNESS of empowering women to make long term decision for a better stable life for their childnren.
Yana is a refugee.
Yehor
Zhdankevych
Operations Manager
Meet Yehor. Yehor was born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine, He came to Warsaw 2 years ago to study at Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management in Warsaw, He is in Poland working towards a Bachelor in Management, with an emphasis in Finance and Economics. Previously, Yehor was an exchange student at University of Victoria, Canada. He took courses in International Finance, Strategic Management, International Marketing, Cross-cultural Management, and Social Entrepreneurship. Yehor is a polymath; he teaches English and English literature, works as a translator, speaks 5 languages—Ukrainian, Russian,English, Spanish, and Polish—and is learning Portuguese and Cantonese. Egor is a human and animal rights activist.
Now, at the age of 20, he is working for BeHumanKindness as the Operations Manager for our BHK Home away from Home in Warsaw, Poland. Yehor is our BHK jack-of-many-trades; IKEA assembly, shopping, technical support and handy man.
Yehor enjoys helping our Ukrainian families get used to their new country and lifestyle, occasionally interpreting for them. He is also starting English classes for the children in our Home.
Yehor's mother and sister are refugees and will move into our home at the end of the summer.
Yehor is a refugee.