Themes by tag: volunteers

Hamish is 23 years old and he recently graduated from the University of St Andrews in the UK. After that, he spent one year working in London as a Conference Producer in the Defense sector.

The young man says that, just like many people in the UK, he was shocked when he heard about russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He was even more horrified by the terrible war crimes committed by the occupiers.

As soon as the boy collected enough money, he came to Ukraine. He volunteered in Kyiv and Chernihiv regions (particularly, he worked in the “Dobrobat” and “Brave to Rebuild” teams). He cleared rubble, helped to fix roofs, lay bricks and install windows.

Hamish is currently volunteering in Kharkiv: he helps to cook food for people affected by the war. In addition, he plans to join the local “Dobrobat” branch to help with the reconstruction.

• reconstruction
• volunteers
• Kharkiv
• Kyiv

The Volunteering School Class initiative was recently launched in Ukraine aiming to encourage teenagers to engage in volunteer activities. Also, the project’s goal is to develop child leadership, organizational skills, perseverance, and confidence.

The 45-minute lessons are held in educational institutions, where activists, teachers, and celebrities tell students how to achieve significant results by taking small steps and sharing tools to help them join the volunteer movement.

During the Volunteering Class, singer Alyona Alyona met with a Kyiv school students, PROBASS ∆ HARDI visited a school in Horishni Plavni, Poltava Oblast, and singer and performer Mila Nitich gave a lesson in an educational institution in Irpin.

Journalists are welcome to cover the Volunteering School Class featuring celebrities in Kyiv, by prior arrangement.

• children
• volunteers

American Craig is 76 years old. The man has been volunteering at the Lviv Main Railway Station for eight months. Together with the Center for Medical and Psychological Help Team, he meets evacuation train and bus passengers, helps IDPs get off the train and carry their belongings, and provides them with necessary information.

In addition, together with writers from Poland, Germany, and Ukraine, he is writing a book about the war and volunteers. He plans to use all the proceeds to help Ukraine. Craig is also learning Ukrainian.

For reference: The volunteer initiative of the Center for Medical and Psychological Help at the Lviv Main Railway Station has been operating since the beginning of the full-scale war at the initiative of the Lviv Oblast Military Administration and its partners.

• volunteers
• Lviv

Ihor Romanov is a welder and blacksmith by profession. He is also the founder of the “Volunteer Smithy ” in Odesa. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the man began to make anti-tank hedgehogs and spikes, which were scattered on the roads. Later, the welder began to produce potbelly stoves, regular stoves and field kitchens. He donated the products of his work to the defenders at the front. Philanthropists and volunteers helped with funds and materials. He also modernized field kitchens to make them mobile and multifunctional.

Currently, the craftsman is working on potbelly stoves for defenders, which he also makes following his own methodology. To make production cheaper, he makes them in the shape of a bent hexagon. Such potbelly stoves are three times cheaper than analogues in stores. He can make up to ten items per day.

• volunteers
• Odesa

Anastasiia Kulish is the founder of VetEvak charitable foundation. For almost a year now, their team of volunteering veterinarians has been traveling as close to the front line as possible to rescue animals that stay with their owners near the front. Volunteers set up operating theaters in houses destroyed by the occupiers, treat animals under shelling. And the owners of cats and dogs line up when they find out that volunteers are coming to them. VetEvak also provides owners with medicine and food for their pets free of charge.

Additionally: It is possible to talk with the founder of VetEvak charitable foundation and the team of veterinarians, both online and offline by prior arrangement.

• animals
• volunteers

Volunteers of the Save Ukraine charitable foundation evacuate people from areas near the front line. Since early November this year, more than 105 thousand Ukrainians have been provided with help. Most of them are families with children.

By prior arrangement, journalists are welcome to talk to families rescued from frontlines. 

As a reminder, volunteers of the Save Ukraine charitable foundation also organize rescue missions to return Ukrainian children illicitly transferred to Russia and Russian-controlled territories. The first mission took place a year ago, on November 8, 2022. In total, as of November 2023, the charity workers have brought 200 children back.

• casualties
• children
• russian crimes
• volunteers
• evacuation

At the onset of the full-blown war, Nadiia’s husband stood up to defend the country and joined the Territorial Defense. He was killed while holding the defense of Chernihiv region in March 2022. Three children became fatherless. The house that the man was building for his family was destroyed by the occupiers. Nadiia was offered to sell the land, but she refused because she dreamed of rebuilding the house in memory of her loved one.

Currently, Dobrobat volunteers are helping to restore the house. They have already brought building materials to the construction site.

• dead
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• volunteers
• women
• Chernihiv

Ksenia Kostenko quit a successful IT career and started a farm in the Bucha district of Kyiv region. She even patented her own fertilizer production technology.

When Russia landed troops in the Kyiv region in February 2022, there were no workers on her field, which was a great joy to Ksenia. The farmer left for Kyiv and later learned that her house had been destroyed and the fields around her contaminated with mines. Ksenia engaged in volunteering and helping the Ukrainian army. Upon the de-occupation of the Kyiv region and having received permission from the sappers, she returned home. Now, the farmer is working to restore the capacity of her enterprise. 

• volunteers
• women
• Kyiv

Larysa is a graduate in law originally from Kherson. She learned about the full-scale invasion of Russia when traveling in Mexico. She immediately started looking for ways to return home. Larysa managed to get to Ukraine just in the days of the Russian occupation of Kherson. In May 2022, she traveled to the Russian-held city and took her friends, and those willing to leave for the territory controlled by Ukraine.

In the Kyiv region, Larysa joined the volunteer movement and dismantled the rubble of buildings destroyed by the war. She lived with the idea of a similar reconstruction project to be implemented in her hometown. So, after Ukraine regained control of Kherson on November 11, 2022, Larysa returned home and became the coordinator of the Dobrobat volunteer movement in the region. Larysa and her team cleared rubble and rebuilt homes. Local volunteers call Larysa “mom” for her dedication and care for people.

Journalists are welcome to talk to Larysa both offline and online.

For reference: November 11, 2023, marks the one-year anniversary of retaking Kherson. Also, during last year’s counteroffensive in southern Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated some districts of the Kherson region and part of the Mykolaiv region on the right bank of the Dnipro River.

• reconstruction
• volunteers
• women
• Kherson

Nadiia is a teacher of the art of making coffee. The woman and her family had moved from Mykolaiv to Kherson, a city in the south of Ukraine that was under russian occupation for more than half a year. This had happened two months before the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion. Nadiia wanted to open a barista school in the city. The official opening was scheduled for February 26, 2022, but the war changed everything.

The woman found herself under occupation, worked at a friend’s coffee shop, and volunteered by cooking food. When threats from the occupiers poured in, she decided to leave. She had to overcome 70 roadblocks. From Zaporizhia, she went to Kyiv, where she started all over again. On August 7, 2023, precisely on the anniversary of her escaping the occupation, she was able to open a coffee shop near Kyiv with the help of a state grant. Nadiia also helped a displaced woman from Zaporizhia region by employing her as a barista in her coffee shop.

Together with her close circle, Nadiia created the “Welcome to Ukraine” charity foundation in Mykolaiv, which helps the military and civilians.

For reference: November 11, 2023 marks the anniversary of the liberation of Kherson from the occupiers. Last year’s counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the South of Ukraine also liberated some of the districts of Kherson region and a part of Mykolaiv region on the right bank of the Dnipro. 

• occupation
• volunteers
• women
• Kyiv