Themes by tag: volunteers

Mariia Lutsak is a seamstress from Ivano-Frankivsk region, who founded the first co-sewing space in her region. Mariia set up two directions of work: one is volunteers who sew warm clothes for the Ukrainian military, and the other is craftswomen who create fashion collections for sale.

After the full-scale invasion began, Mariia saw the need for warm clothing for the Defense Forces and managed to unite the women of her community to sew clothes for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Women worked even during a blackout, using flashlights as sources of light.

Eventually, Mariia decided that it was worth scaling up production and making underwear for the military as well. The woman received a grant from the Ukrainian Women’s Fund, so now she has special sewing machines for sewing underwear. 

• volunteers
• women
• Ivano-Frankivsk

Saint Nicholas’ Reindeer project volunteers have received as many as 1,000 letters from children from all over Ukraine. Basically, children ask St. Nich to bring toys, sweets, bicycles, or gadgets (as many of them study online) as a gift. This year, the kids also ask for victory for Ukraine and help for the Armed Forces, and some of them dream of going back to their destroyed homes.

According to the charity initiative, any person can pick a child’s letter and fulfill a dream. The volunteers will deliver the gifts, create a festive holiday celebration, and take a photo report. They will visit the de-occupied territories of the Kharkiv region, and work in Kyiv, Donetsk, and many other localities.

Journalists can talk to the campaign organizers, and cover the process of distributing gifts by volunteers, wherever possible. 

For reference: The St. Nicholas’ Reindeer project was founded in 2016 in Kharkiv to support children from frontline communities.

• children
• volunteers
• Kharkiv

Olena Rozvadovska, co-founder of the Children’s Voices Foundation is on the BBC 100 Women list. The project recognizes the achievements of women around the world and in all spheres of life – from volunteering to running international organizations. 

A 27-year-old Olena took up the position of press secretary at The Office of the Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the President of Ukraine. In this role, she became deeply involved in human rights activities and learned more about the problems children face. This was followed by 5 years of volunteering in Donbas, the founding of the Voices of Children charity foundation, and the growth of the team from 2 employees to 200 people. 

The Voices of Children Foundation provides psychological and psychosocial assistance to children and war-affected families.

Read more on Olena’s biography here.

For reference: This year, the BBC 100 Women has included two more Ukrainians, Oksana Zabuzhko and Iryna Stavchuk, in its list. Apart from the Ukrainians, 27 global climate activists made the list. Other inspiring women on this year’s list include Michelle Obama, a lawyer and former first lady of the United States, and Amal Clooney, a human rights barrister.

• children
• psychological support
• volunteers
• women
• Kyiv

In the “Warm Up” (Zihrii) movement participants knit warm clothes (hats, scarves, balaclavas, mittens, and socks) to be sent to Ukrainian defenders. These pieces of clothing do not compete with tactical equipment but aim to show caregiving to the military. As the founders of the movement explain, apart from military tasks, soldiers have other tasks, such as cooking and going to the post office. This is where warm scarves, socks, or hats from “Warm Up” come in handy.

Over 5 thousand people from all over Ukraine have joined the initiative since its inception. Ukrainians abroad (Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden) also knit for our defenders.

The people of various professions: top managers, editors, nannies, etc have been joining the “Warm Up” movement. There are also men among the knitters.

• military
• volunteers
• Kyiv

The B50 community was formed in the very first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Its future founders gathered near one of the Territorial Defense Forces headquarters, which had a secret address, B50, whence the community’s name followed. Since the Ukrainian forces have liberated the Kyiv region, B50 volunteers were among the first to join the cleanup and debris removal in Bucha, Irpin, Vorzel, and Hostomel. As of April 2022, the B50 community has been dispatching visiting missions to the de-occupied towns and villages of the Kyiv region every week to deal with cleanup activities of homes destroyed by the occupiers. In addition to debris removal, since 2023, the community’s volunteers have been restoring the children’s libraries funds in the frontline and de-occupied territories, reconstructing and decorating children’s bomb shelters, and helping animal shelters affected by the hostile invasion.

For reference: The B50 volunteers community is ready to have conversations with journalists, both online and offline. You can join the community missions every weekend.

• animals
• reconstruction
• volunteers

Volodymyr Moisei is a master of sports in powerlifting. His story began with an ordinary trip to the gym. And within a year, with the help of the coach, Volodymyr met his first standard.

In 2019, the athlete got into a traffic accident and lost his arm. After two and a half months, he began his return to professional sports, developed a special strap to help him lift a bar with extreme weights and thought about the world record. When the Great War began, Volodymyr’s hometown, Berdyansk, was occupied. Due to the injury, the man could not join the army and took up volunteering. Later, he was able to evacuate his family from Berdyansk to Switzerland, and he himself returned to Ukraine.

In March 2023, Volodymyr visited the U.S.-based “Arnold Sports Festival” – as an adaptive athlete in the weight class of under 100 kilograms, he lifted the weight of 260 kilograms and set a world record in powerlifting. The athlete dedicated his record to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and his family.

For reference: Volodymyr Moisei is ready to communicate with journalists, both online and offline by prior arrangement.

• casualties
• occupation
• 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