Harvard University students Avi Schiffmann, 19, and Marco Burstein, 18, have gone viral for finding a way to help Ukrainian refugees find shelter.
The duo created a website, Ukraine Take Shelter, which helps Ukrainian refugees find shelter all around the world, and it already has over a million users.
Schiffmann told The Washington Post that he knew he needed to take action after attending a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine at San Diego's Balboa Park in February.
The college student noted that he was visiting the West Coast while taking a semester off.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about what I could do to help,” he said. “I wanted to do something that would have an instant impact.”
This wasn't the first time Schiffmann coded for a cause. Two years prior, he developed a website, ncov2019.live, devoted to tracking the spread of COVID-19 around the world.
“I know how to make all these websites and apps and, you know, I felt that nobody was going to do it,” Schiffmann told NBC Boston on Wednesday. “So why don’t I just do it? So, I made this website.”
That's when he tapped Burstein to help him quickly develop the website.
“That night, I started working on designing the user interface and the basic site structure, went to sleep, woke up in the morning, and called my friend Marco from college, who’s an amazing web developer,” he added.
The two got to work and on March 3, they launched Ukraine Take Shelter.
The site, which is in 15 languages, provides listings around the world that range from a vacant resort condo to a bedroom in an apartment. All the person has to do is input their location and the nearest places that are accepting residents will pop up.
“It’s like a public bulletin that you can bring with you no matter where you are,” he said.
According to The Washington Post, more than 4,000 potential hosts have signed up for the website within the first week that it launched, and Burstein and Schiffmann are seeing these numbers rise every day.
“The number of new hosts we’re getting every day is mind-blowing, and we’re seeing immediate results in how the website is making a difference,” Burstein shared. “It’s literally saving lives for people in a terrifying situation.”
“We’re really thankful for the real volunteers or the people hosting their homes for all these refugees,” Schiffmann said. “We’ve heard incredible stories.”