A motivated and inspired Mercer Island couple’s idea to launch a humanitarian effort to help Ukrainians in crisis has grown exponentially over the last two weeks.

With philanthropists Carl and Joann Bianco leading the charge, the Seattle Jewish Community Ukraine Challenge is focused on matching, dollar for dollar, the donations received to assist Jewish people in Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees.

The Biancos have teamed up with six regional Jewish organizations — including the Stroum Jewish Community Center (SJCC) on the Island — for the cause and at press time the amount available for matching funds had soared to $1,187,500 in commitments made by philanthropists from the organizations.

The challenge is open through April 30 and people can donate at: https://tinyurl.com/2p9fb6bj.

Along with the SJCC, the other organizations involved are Hillel UW, Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, Holocaust Center for Humanity, Kline Galland and Jewish Family Service. Overseas funds will be allocated by Jewish Federations of North America and local funds for refugee resettlement will be administered through Jewish Family Service, according to the challenge webpage.

Amy Lavin, chief executive officer of the SJCC, said that several other Island philanthropists have joined the challenge with the Biancos and the organizations.

Carl discussed why they initiated the challenge: “The need was great, but there was no organized community-wide structure to raise funds for what was likely to be the greatest disaster and destruction of a civilian community since World War II.”

They’re off to a strong start with the challenge, said Lavin, who gave a historical perspective to what Ukrainians are facing during the Russian invasion of their country: “An important element of this is that in our history as Jews, we believe it’s really important to help people who find themselves fleeing persecution and who are often as we say, ‘Strangers in a strange land.’ There’s a sense that it’s in our DNA and history, creating this conviction to help.”

Nancy B. Greer, president and chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, said that people she’s spoken with have expressed an interest in lending a hand.

“I hope that our community is inspired to meet the challenge set out by our lead philanthropists and together, guided by our Jewish values, we’ll help to repair the world,” she said.

While he’s pleased that they had reached roughly one third of the match at press time, Rabbi Will Berkovitz, chief executive officer of Jewish Family Service, would like to see the donation numbers grow with this opportunity to help during these trying times.

“We wanted to not only give them a way to meaningfully help, but also provide a way to inspire them. We hope that offering a dollar for dollar match will help motivate people toward action,” he said of donors.

Lavin noted that there are no parameters on who can contribute funds to the challenge.

“While this is inspired and activated by Jewish organizations, we absolutely invite everyone to participate and really want to see the needs of these refugees be met,” she said.