Themes by tag: volunteers

The All-Ukrainian Center for the Adoption of Homeless Animals “Patron Pets Center” launched a new project entitled “Walk with me.” Its purpose is to socialize four-legged friends. Those who are willing to take part in the project can walk animals in the center of the capital every day from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM, and from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

“Patron Pets Center” cooperates with volunteers who evacuate animals from regions suffering from russia’s full-scale invasion. So, for example, the Center recently sheltered more than a hundred pets from Kherson region. Volunteers also bring animals from Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions.

In Kyiv, “Patron Pets Center” provides shelter to animals, rehabilitates them and helps to find owners.

• animals
• volunteers
• Kyiv

All her life, Viktoriia had been afraid of needles and she would even lose consciousness when her blood was being taken for a test. Despite this, on February 23, 2022, the woman donated blood for the military for the first time: she wanted to help the Ukrainian army in the east. Already after February 24, donation became a usual task for Viktoriia. The woman donates blood as often as doctors allow.

Viktoriia also began actively blogging about blood donation. She debunks myths and gives advice to those just starting out on this path. In particular, she talks about her experience, shares the best places to donate blood and describes the entire procedure in detail. Viktoriia says that she managed to persuade a considerable number of people to donate blood.

• volunteers
• women

Women from the IT industry, who have been actively helping Ukrainian defenders since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, make infantry shovels for the military. They realized that, although such shovels are needed by the majority of Ukrainian soldiers, it is extremely difficult to find an inexpensive shovel of good quality. Therefore, the girls united in a volunteer initiative called “Teeth Shovel.” They managed to establish the production of high-quality shovels, costing UAH 150 per piece. “Teeth shovel” has already handed over 18,000 shovels to Ukrainian fighters. Currently, the goal of the “toothy” girls is to provide 30,000 soldiers with infantry shovels.

• military
• volunteers
• women

Joe is 61 years old. Twenty years ago, he served at New York City Police Department and later trained police paramedics. But Joe has been in Ukraine for almost a year now: he joined the Ukrainian-Israeli medical volunteer mission FRIDA.  As a paramedic (sometimes as an ECG technician), he travels with specialists to the de-occupied and frontline regions to help people. For example, the man had to help patients in bomb shelters. And also in settlements where no doctors were left due to the full-scale invasion of Russia.

For reference: FRIDA Ukraine, the Ukrainian-Israeli medical volunteer charitable mission, has been helping civilians since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In particular, they counsel people, operate, evacuate and distribute medicines. Volunteer doctors (of various medical specialties) travel to the regions (for example, Kharkiv, Kherson, or Donetsk) to help local residents with health issues. 

• casualties
• doctors
• volunteers

Vinnytsia based volunteer Maksym Huzii received a trophy from the Ukrainian defenders from the Avdiivka axis – a used tube from the Javelin anti-tank system. Then Maksym got the idea to make something out of these weapons that could once again be useful for the Ukrainian army. Together with Vinnytsia engineers, Maksym created powerful audio systems based on the tubes. One speaker weighs 47 kilograms and produces a powerful sound. The volunteer plans to auction and raffle off these speakers among foreign donors in order to receive funding to buy ambulances, which are needed at the frontline. The first speaker has already been purchased by a Ukrainian IT worker who lives in the U.S. He bought it for UAH 500,000. 

• culture
• military
• volunteers
• Vinnytsia

Another training for future volunteer medics will take place on July 16, Sunday in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The Hospitallers medical volunteer battalion organizes the courses regularly. In total, the training lasts for ten days, and future paramedics can attend classes both near Dnipro and in Kyiv.

Journalists can cover the training process.

• doctors
• volunteers
• Dnipro
• Kyiv

The Hospitals project aims to help animals and evacuate them from the war zone. It is a joint initiative of the Hospitallers Medical Battalion and the Khvostati (‘Tailed animals’) NGO, which is involved in animal care and rehoming.

The project team comprises experienced veterinarians and volunteers who rescue injured animals using mobile hospital units and an evacuation bus. Subsequently, the evacuated animals found new homes in safe areas.

Over the previous two trips, the project has rescued 80 animals from the affected Kherson region.

• animals
• volunteers

Alona Danilova’s stepfather enlisted in the army in 2014, was held captive, and since the full-scale invasion outbreak, he mobilized again. Alona’s husband had military experience: In 2018, he received a gunshot wound and became disabled, but this did not stop him from defending Ukraine again. Alona’s brother is studying at a military academy, so after the Russian invasion began, he went straight to practical training.

At the end of March, Alona created a channel in the telegram, gathering proactive women she knew. It was the beginning of the Ukrainian Women’s Battalion. The girls quickly determined the basic needs of the military and started to provide them with helmets, body armor, ammunition, and first aid kits. Over a year, the military expressed gratitude to the Ukrainian Women’s Battalion team, and at the end of 2022, the President of Ukraine recognized their work. The team has also launched a number of other initiatives, including the Women’s Voice project uniting women in need of psychological support willing to share their stories. The Ukrainian Women’s Battalion tells stories on its social media platforms so the world knows what Ukrainian women have been through.

• volunteers
• women

On July 15, the “Brave to Rebuild” project volunteers will open a Social Bicycle Repair Workshop in Kyiv. The workshop could provide bicycle repair service on daily basis for vehicles handed in by benefactors from the Netherlands. Subsequently, this transport will be delivered to people in the de-occupied territories.

For reference: The Brave to Rebuild project aims to help residents of the de-occupied territories of Ukraine. Volunteers are restoring housing and social institutions damaged as a result of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine.  

• volunteers

Before the full-scale invasion, Diana Ilnytska was conducting parenting courses and devoting herself to raising her two children. At the end of February 2022, the woman began to actively volunteer, sending clothes and shoes to Ukrainian defenders. Over time, Diana noticed that most of the military sleep in low-quality sleeping bags, freeze, and cannot rest properly. Diana and the team of the Riy Charitable Foundation managed to develop unique sleep systems that allow soldiers to sleep “just like in a bed”. According to Diana, their sleeping bags meet NATO standards but are several times cheaper than their foreign counterparts.
In addition, she organized the mobile bath unit production. One bath equipment made by Riy 150 soldiers can take a bath, wash, and dry their clothes daily. Six mobile units are already installed at the front, but the production facility in the Kyiv region is working on manufacturing new ones.

• volunteers
• women
• Kyiv