Themes by tag: volunteers

The “On3wheels” project was founded by two friends in 2016. Sava and Oleksandr set out to organize accessible hikes in the mountains for people with disabilities. For this purpose, they purchased a special cart and recruited a large team of volunteers, ready to help people get to the peaks of the Ukrainian Carpathians. As the full-scale invasion began, the team contemplated a new format, mainly organizing hikes for soldiers, who lost their limbs due to war injuries. This year, they have already managed to hold one such hike for ten soldiers. Now the volunteers are preparing for the next hike with the military.

• military
• volunteers

David is a U.S. citizen, who runs a consulting company (working with NGOs and charities on their financial health and sustainability). The man visited Ukraine for the first time in 2012 (Kyiv, Kharkiv and Donetsk) and says that he fell in love with it. When russia’s full-scale invasion began last year, he went to Warsaw with International Medical Relief to help Ukrainians. He came to Ukraine in June 2023. Here he joined the volunteer project “Brave to Rebuild.”

The man has already joined the efforts to rebuild houses and repair schools. He even went to Kherson to help repair buildings that were damaged by floods and shelling.

David is currently in Kherson. And starting from next week, he will be ready to talk with the media in the capital. 

• reconstruction
• volunteers

The Rehabilitation by Tourism project for rotating military enlisted personnel or those undergoing rehabilitation is now unfolding in the Lviv region. On September 23-24, the participants will spend two days traveling around the Lviv region. A river catamaran trip will be available. Considering the state of health, the military is welcome to take part in kayaking and rock climbing workshops. A guided tour and a caving trip to be also organized for the project participants. All activities are free of charge for the defenders. About 30 participants have already signed up. The “Rehabilitation by Tourism” project is being implemented by the Manivtsi Tourist Club together with the Youth and Sports Department of the Lviv Oblast Military Administration.

• casualties
• military
• volunteers
• Lviv

Aelita Basanets is a mother and wife of an Armed Forces serviceman. When the full-scale invasion began, she went to Poland with her son. She returned eight months later wanting to be as close as possible to her beloved and the military’s families. Aelita saw women losing their husbands in the war withdrawing into themselves and becoming reserved, distancing people. She decided to support them and founded the Children of Angels charity in Kremenchuk, which provides free care for military children and their wives. The foundation’s volunteers are tutors who prepare children for higher education institution admission. The volunteering services also include eyebrow artists, dentists, and makeup artists who work with the wives of fallen soldiers.

• children
• volunteers
• women

Since the summer of 2022, the volunteer project “Marriage for a Hero” has been helping to organize “turnkey” weddings for military personnel. A team of beauty and event industry professionals provide their services for free. Organization and coordination of the wedding, make-up and hairstyle for the bride, wedding invitations, cake, cameramen and photographers’ services, decorations – this is far from a complete list of what they help with free of charge within the framework of the charity initiative.

The volunteer project “Marriage for a Hero” was founded by Svitlana Olifer from Cherkasy, who has been working in the wedding industry for seven years. Currently, the project has already been scaled up throughout Ukraine. The project has helped with a total of more than 20 weddings.

Important notice: In the near future, volunteers of the initiative will help a Kharkiv couple in love to organize a wedding celebration. By prior agreement, the mass media can attend the marriage registration ceremony.

• military
• volunteers

The idea of an oven on wheels to cook pizza in it came to Vitaliy at the beginning of 2023. He saw a version of an oven on wheels in the form of a trailer attached to a bus, and it is completely mobile. To implement his plan, Vitaliy bought an old bus, took his time to repair it and finally turned it into a vehicle that can ride around the entire front line and feed the soldiers with pizza, just like the pizza chef dreams. First, Vitaliy plans to try to cook pizza in Kyiv region in military hospitals, and later to go to the front line.

• food
• volunteers

Ultramarathoner Boas Kragtwijk started his journey on July 22 in Amsterdam. The athlete set himself the goal of running to Kyiv and raising funds for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Mostly, for ambulances and medical equipment and, also to show that the russo-Ukrainian war is not as far away as it seems. Boas Kragtwijk ran at least 50 kilometers every day. He managed to raise EUR 56,500 and already bought one ambulance.

On September 13, Boas Kragtwijk is coming back to the Netherlands. The ultramarathoner is ready to communicate with journalists online.

• volunteers

Tetiana Romaniuk joined the volunteer battalion “Hospitallers” in September 2022, when her skills as a quick response volunteer of the Red Cross Society in Ukraine came in handy. The woman went to the front line with five years of experience in emergency situations. In the break between evacuation missions, Tetiana works on towel embroidery, which is her way of trying to restore Ukrainian culture, which is being destroyed by the russian military.

• doctors
• volunteers
• women

Anton is 27. He is a surgical oncologist. The man was born in Donetsk region, since 2014 he has lived in Kharkiv. In order to help people who suffered as a result of the war, in August last year he joined the Ukrainian-Israeli mission of medical volunteers FRIDA Ukraine. And since in September 2022 the Armed Forces liberated the occupied territories of Kharkiv oblast, Anton participated in the first field medical missions to settlements de-occupied from the enemy. He recalls that he was most stricken by the sight of broken houses and burnt down tanks between them. And while helping people, he heard that fighting was still going on somewhere nearby.

In general, the medical volunteer managed to visit almost all the de-occupied settlements of Kharkiv region.

For reference: on September 6, 2022, Ukrainian troops launched a major counteroffensive in Kharkiv region. Subsequently, Kharkiv oblast was completely de-occupied.

The Ukrainian-Israeli medical volunteer movement FRIDA Ukraine has been helping civilians since the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Volunteer doctors (of various specialties) travel to the frontline and de-occupied regions (for example, Kharkiv, Kherson, or Donetsk regions), where they help local residents who complain about their health. In particular, they consult locals, perform surgeries, evacuate and distribute medicines.

• casualties
• doctors
• occupation
• volunteers
• Kharkiv

With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Fortune Volunteers NGO took up the task of providing medical supplies to the military. Volunteers, mostly women, began sewing first-aid kits for those at the front and learning what to fill them with. Currently, female volunteers sew first-aid kits according to NATO standards and fill them with medicines that may be needed at the front. In addition, women make knee pads and stretchers for carrying the wounded. Women from Zhytomyr say that they try to make everything as sturdy as possible so that things can last longer. But they always hope that none of the soldiers will have to use their first-aid kits.

• volunteers
• women