Themes by tag: volunteers

Since the beginning of the all-out war, volunteers of “Save Ukraine” charitable foundation have brought back 44 children who had been deported to russia and occupied Crimea. To do this, they even had to organize rescue operations. Volunteers also actively evacuate children from the war zone.

Journalists can ask Mykola Kuleba, Founder of “Save Ukraine”, Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Children’s Rights (2014-2021) about how these processes take place, what difficulties have to be overcome in order to save deported children and those in the danger zone. You can find out more about the legal issues of the return of young Ukrainians from the foundation’s lawyer.

For reference: according to Children of War, a state platform for searching for missing children, as of February 7, more than 16,000 Ukrainian children were deported by the occupiers.

• casualties
• children
• occupation
• russian crimes
• volunteers

“Riding into the Future” project holds therapeutic horse riding classes for military personnel who have musculoskeletal disorders and amputated limbs after participating in combat.

The project was founded by a married couple of Oleksandra and Vasyl. Now Vasyl himself is at the front, so Oleksandra, together with Natalka, the founder of “DoloniDotyk” (a Touch of a Hand) NGO holds horse riding classes for wounded soldiers every week.

• animals
• casualties
• military
• volunteers
• Lviv

Employees of one of the beauty salons in Lviv region were providing hairdressing services, when the power went out. However, they figured that they could finish their work at an Invincibility Center. (There is even a video of how they serve a client who came to have her hair dyed).

The owner of the salon, Anna, says that the rescuers at the Invincibility Center were good to the guests: they treated them to tasty food and tea. She adds that in case of a force majeure with the power supply, she will have to come back to the tent set up by the State Emergency Service.

By the way, this beauty salon holds volunteer “Kindness Days.” Among other things, hairdressing services are provided free of charge to internally displaced persons. And in February, they plan to organize the same for the military.

For reference: Invincibility Centers are places set up during the war where people can stay warm, get access to water, electricity, internet, etc.

• blackout
• volunteers
• Lviv

The chef, who has his own restaurant, came from the Netherlands to support the Ukrainians. Together with his wife, he treats Ukrainian refugees staying in shelters in Lviv region to pancakes. Donations from concerned Dutch people helped to buy food. The couple has a mobile kitchen to heat up pancakes. The husband and wife have been in Lviv region for more than a week. These days, they are making pancakes for Lviv residents.

• casualties
• food
• volunteers
• Lviv

Foreign volunteers of Siobhan’s Trust charity are currently in Ukraine with their “Pizza on Wheels” project. They cook pizza in a mobile oven and give it to Ukrainians who suffered from the war. They even visited the east of the country. And recently, people in Lviv region were also treated to freshly baked food. The charity is registered in Scotland, but volunteers are joined by foreigners from other countries, in particular, from Canada.

• casualties
• food
• volunteers

Odesa volunteers converted an old bus into a mobile bathhouse for soldiers at the front. They are currently finishing the work and will soon send the bathhouse to one of Odesa brigades at the front line. “Ukrinteravtoservis — Odesa” enterprise and “Good Luck” volunteer headquarters are responsible for this project. The creation of the first bathhouse cost them USD 4,000. In general, the volunteers want to make at least 5 of these: one for each Odesa brigade currently serving at the front.

• military
• volunteers
• Odesa

Tetiana Pototska owns a travel agency that was engaged in the organization of pilgrimage tours abroad before the full-scale war. But her fate was changed by chance: no one could bring the body of her friend’s father, who died in Kharkiv, to Lutsk, so Tetiana decided to help. Since then, the woman has become a volunteer: she evacuates the bodies of the killed soldiers from flash points and brings them to their families. In addition, the woman helps to evacuate the wounded people to Poland.

• casualties
• dead
• volunteers
• women

Since the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kateryna has gathered a team of women activists in Dnipro who bake delicious snacks and hand them over to the defenders. (An enemy shell hit Kateryna’s own home in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk oblast).

The initiative was named “Baking Troops”. Currently, volunteers bake pies, gingerbread, cookies, and poppy seed rolls. They even make pancakes and pizzas for the military. Recently, they handed over their baked goods to feed the rescuers during the search and rescue operation in Dnipro. (On January 14, during a massive rocket attack, the russians hit a high-rise building in Dnipro. 46 people died, 81 were injured).

• volunteers
• Dnipro

The primary task of “Dobrobat” is to quickly restore damaged buildings by covering the destroyed roof, repairing broken windows, and reinforcing damaged walls. “Dobrobat” volunteers are rebuilding residential blocks and detached houses, schools, outpatient clinics and infrastructure facilities.

Branches of the volunteer movement are located in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. And more than 40,000 people applied to join the ranks of “Dobrobat” including the residents of those areas where “Dobrobat” helps with reconstruction, and people from other regions, in particular, from currently occupied territories. Some foreigners joined the volunteer initiative as well.

For reference: Since the beginning of April, “Dobrobat” members have helped over 1,650 families whose homes were damaged. In particular, roofs were restored in more than 160 houses, windows were repaired in 95. More than 50 social infrastructure objects were rebuilt. In addition, they helped to clear the rubble of destroyed housing and clean the territory of infrastructure facilities.

• casualties
• reconstruction
• volunteers

Zatyshok (a cozy place) anti-crisis transit hub for vulnerable categories of internally displaced persons from Donetsk region (persons with disabilities, orphans, the elderly, large families, single parents, families of military personnel, women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence) works in Dnipro.

The hub, among other things, provides free accommodation and meals for a period of 1 to 10 calendar days. And if necessary, they help with further evacuation, both within Ukraine and abroad (the length of stay is determined by the complexity of the specific situation of each person/family).

• casualties
• occupation
• russian crimes
• volunteers
• Dnipro