Christopher Briscoe to hand out $100 bills to those in need in war-torn country
By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news
The two most important days in a person’s life are the day they are born and the day they discover why.
The paraphrased quote by Mark Twain is close to photographer and author Christopher Briscoe’s heart and one he shared with those gathered to hear about his travels at a talk on July 22 at the Ashland Public Library. Briscoe first started asking himself about his purpose in life in his 30s. And, while the 72-year-old Briscoe’s travels have included Ethiopia, India, Somalia, and Cambodia, his travels to document the invasion of Ukraine in the past two years have been especially meaningful.
“Why am I here?” Briscoe posed the question to himself in front of a group gathered at the library. “For me, it’s not only listening to the stories and writing the stories, but it’s also about telling the stories.”
Briscoe was in Ashland this summer and shared a handful of presentations with the public, including passages from his book, “The Child on the Train,” as well as about his upcoming trip to Ukraine in late August and plans to help Ashlanders contribute to his mission to help those in greatest need through a GoFundMe page he created in mid-July. He plans to stay three months.
“I’m going back to Ukraine next month,” Briscoe told attendees. “I’m taking with me a wad of $100 bills.”
The GoFundMe page he created has amassed 35 donations as of Tuesday, July 31, with $7,435 toward his $20,000 goal since he created it earlier in the month.
“And I’m not going to stop,” Briscoe said, of his fundraising efforts.
Briscoe, who is known by some friends in Ukraine as “Christoph,” plans to travel throughout Ukraine, personally distributing the funds donated via GoFundMe to those on the ground who need it most.
“Like a farmer that needs to repair his plow,” Briscoe said, “… or the seeds a farmer needs to plant. And I’m going to hand him the $100 bill and I’m going to ask them to look into the (iPhone) camera and I’m going to do a 60-second video of them thanking Ashland, Oregon, or whoever gave the $100 and I’m going to post that (on social media).”
Briscoe’s book, “The Child on the Train,” chronicling the stories of people and places he visited in the past two years is for sale at Bloomsbury Books and Amazon.
“I just want to keep telling the stories,” Briscoe said. “People forget. I’m going to keep reminding them.”
And the stories are reaching far and wide.
Briscoe shared that on the morning of his July 22 presentation, someone who had read the stories laid out in his book called from Washington, D.C.
How you can help
To go to Christopher Briscoe’s fundraising page, click here.
“I got a call from the Department of Defense in D.C. Someone there had a copy of my book so this morning I gave an online presentation to the DOD,” Briscoe said. “You would have never have guessed that they had a copy of my book.”
Briscoe told Ashland.news he is planning to write a second book on the women of Ukraine, with a release date to be determined.
Ashland High School history teacher Paul Huard also spoke at the talk on July 22. Ashland.news will publish a subsequent story about Huard’s recent visit to Ukraine this summer.
