Ralph Richardson has raised more than $9,000 for Ukraine Defense Support, a local nonprofit providing aid to frontline volunteers in the war against Russia.
SEATTLE — After spending hours in the rain, Ralph Richardson packed his soaked belongings and walked away from his spot on an Interstate 5 ramp on Tuesday with just $8 in donations.
For most panhandlers, it would be a disappointing end to the day.
“We got one donation. But hey, some days you don’t get any,” he said.
Instead, Richardson finds comfort in collecting any amount as drivers enter the freeway from NE 45th Street and 5th Avenue between Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood and the University District.
“I’d stay longer on a regular day, until dusk almost to see how it goes, you know?”
He’ll be back on Wednesday, collecting donations for Ukraine Defense Support (UDS), a Seattle-based nonprofit providing aid to volunteers on the frontlines of the war with Russia. Since the invasion in 2022, Richardson has raised more than $9,000 for UDS through panhandling.
“I had a crazy father. He was abused by his father and he abused my family entirely. All I ever wanted was a family. When Putin [invaded] Ukraine… I said, ‘I gotta do something.'”
Now, he feels a connection with the group and the families he’s seen impacted on the news.
“I feel God isn’t going to let them win, so I gotta help,” Richardson said.
He initially donated through a national organization, but he was concerned about how donations were being used.
“I said ‘Wait a minute,’ I want to focus on Ukraine… we need to get the most help to Ukraine,” Richardson said.
A UDS spokesperson confirmed the amount of the donations and said there may have been more in cash.
In addition to the weather and rude drivers, he’s faced scrutiny from other panhandlers.
“They basically were telling me to go away, keep going. Don’t be anywhere in Seattle… they were threatening,” he told KING 5. “One of those guys came up when I wasn’t looking [and] walked across the street and he sprayed me with pepper spray.”
But that hasn’t stopped him from returning to his spot nearly every day.
“I wasn’t going to put up with random crap.”
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