January 25, 2024
58,882 people evacuated from danger to date
147 people evacuated from danger this week
45 trips into the deoccupied and frontline territories
Along with hundreds of donations large and small that arrived during and after the holiday season, you have also sent us postcards, letters and sticky notes expressing your support for Ukrainian Volunteers. These messages, and your kind comments online are as precious as the monetary donations, upholding our spirits and inspiring us to continue our work. Our US team makes sure your messages get translated and forwarded to our volunteer community.
A few days ago we sent over a fresh batch of 13 messages, like this one “So sorry for you all. Please know our thoughts are always with you!” (Laura) or this one: “Thank you for your hard work. We in the US admire you and support you.” (Virginia). In response Alena, our courageous volunteer from Odesa, said it best: “Thank you, this support is inspiring. It's a blessing that compassion for our sorrow leads to such kind deeds.'' Reading these messages we are reminded again and again that at the heart of our organization is a cyclical flow of gratitude and trust binding us all together and giving us strength in the face of this terrible war. We thank all of you for being part of this effort.
Stories
Kherson Realities
Oleksandr Ushkan, who heads a volunteer group in Kherson (see Inna’s team below) shared a sweeping fantasy about his peaceful future in rebuilt Kherson. We will post his writing on our social media pages. After this dreamy part he continue as follows:
“For now this is still in the future, and the realities are as follows:
5AM - explosion. Then another one and a third one, seems like a rocket got shot down close by. An hour left until the end of the curfew. We can no longer sleep. Another shelling - ‘wish nobody gets hurt.’ Starting to get light, we are heading in the direction we feel the attack took place. We quickly found the spot, four blocks away, regular houses in the residential areas. Windows are gone, steel doors are ripped off the hinges, police and rescue workers block off the area. We help by going into buildings looking for casualties, fortunately can’t find anyone. The homes are empty. People begin arriving, the owners and their friends. Some of them can’t be renewed but for the others we have plastic and plywood to close the windows from rain and snow - and although it’s bitter to admit - from looters. We worked there for three days helping everyone who needed help. People were very grateful. In such moments support is very important. People are lost, they don’t know what to do and our team tries to be the support they are looking for. “
Help in the Occupied Territories
8 people were evacuated from the Russian-occupied left bank this week. Among them was a grandfather who had been abandoned by his family and left alone in the village. He had many injuries including a broken leg and had probably been drinking to cope. He was finally helped by a neighbor and is now in a boarding house in Estonia. Also among the evacuated was a young man, partially paralyzed and developmentally disabled, whose mother had been taking care of him. She died and he was cared for by his friends after that, until he could be evacuated and reunited with his brother.
320 packages were distributed in 4 occupied towns.
Update from Oleksandr on Firewood Deliveries to the Eastern Frontline
"We continue the project initiated on January 10th with fuel briquettes in Eastern Ukraine, specifically in the front-line cities of the Donetsk region. Last week, 69 tons or 3 tracks of fuel briquettes were delivered to the Toretsk community: Yuzhna Shahta, Zalizne, and New York. People are extremely grateful, as many have to warm themselves by burning various combustible waste, while others are forced to break wooden fences from homes that have been destroyed and left by residents in order not to freeze this winter. People had little hope for help, but unexpectedly, at the most difficult time, assistance arrived.
The pilot part has been completed without any major incidents, and we have moved on to the main part of the project. We plan to increase the scale of deliveries, but this is currently restrained by several factors: the situation in the front-line cities, the capabilities of the carrier itself, and the availability of briquettes from the suppliers. Since there is a high demand for briquettes, it may be necessary to load not only from two manufacturers in Dnipro, but also from another manufacturer in Zaporizhzhya. Currently, Vitaliy D, a volunteer responsible for the direct implementation of the project on the ground, plans to unload two trucks a day at two different locations, starting next week. We'll see how it goes."
Update on Fuel Delivery to Berislav
At the start of December, we began coordinating with Alena on a difficult and risky project of bringing generator fuel to Berislav. The city has 100 generators, each one serving 3 nearby homes. People use them to charge their devices. We funded 2,000 liters of fuel, which, at 20 liters per generator, should serve the residents of 300 households for a month. Alena arranged this by purchasing gift certificates and sending them to local volunteers. The locals were able to purchase 1,000 liters at a time at the closest functioning gas station and deliver the fuel to a neighborhood garage in canisters they loaded into a van. Transferring so much flammable liquid in an area with constant drone attacks is a huge risk, but for people without electricity, this fuel is a lifeline and a connection to the outside world. We report on this now because the locals were finally able to complete the distribution to all the homes with generators.
Team Summaries
Alina’s Team – Dobra Sprava (“Good Cause”)
Evacuated 139 people through 14 trips to Myrnohrad, Pokrovsk, Kostyantynivka, Mykolaiv, Lyman, Druzhkivka, and Kherson areas.
Helped a social welfare center in Izyum which serves 600 mostly elderly and people with disabilities who remain in this extremely dangerous area with requested medical furniture and equipment, as well as small gifts to their 51 employees.
Inna’s Team – Krok z Nadiyeyu (“Step with Hope”)
23.6 tons of aid provided to 8,150 people.
9,500 people received bread.
77 tons of firewood were delivered for 48 families in Studenok, near Izyum, completing firewood distributions in that area.
Kherson operation:
Performed exterminations and cleanup in 15 buildings;
Finished dehumidifying 5 spaces and installed 3 more;
Covered blown out windows with plastic in 4 buildings;
Performed 38 maintenance tasks.
Traveled to Konstantynivka, Kramatorsk, Mykolaivka, Slovyansk.
Delivered water to Tavricheske village near Nikopol,
Because of icy roads, volunteers’ van came off the road near Synelnykove. Nobody was hurt.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Vladyslav K (Mykolaiv): delivered 42 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv and 7 tons to Kherson.
Andriy P (Mykolaiv): delivered an ambulance, together with some expensive medication from Germany to the Zaporizhzhia medical department.
Sandra S (Odesa): kitchen fed more than 2,300 people.
Yuri S (Vinnytsia): distributed 500 kg of clothes and fruit to people with disabilities.
Vilis N (Kyiv/Chernivtsi): delivered 20 tons of groceries to Pereyaslav (Kyiv Region) for further assembly of food packages to the east.
Oleksandr D (Lutsk): delivered 188 tons of fuel briquettes to 378 households in the Mykolaiv Region locations of Novohryhorivka, Lyubomyrivka, Ternovi Pody, Myrne, Buzke, Bashtanka, Partyzanske, Mykolaiv, Posad-Pokrovske and Matviyivka. Also delivered 69 tons of briquettes to the Donetsk Region settlements of Shakhta Pivdenna, Zalizne, and New York.
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): Held 3 art therapy sessions for 44 children with disabilities, internally displaced (IDP) children and children from large families. 115 people received food and gifts for children and were taken to a theater performance and a tennis match.
NGO Angelia
Delivered 2,000 kg of groceries, diapers, antiseptics and toilet seats from Kyiv to Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka, intended for distribution in Toretsk (all are in Donetsk Region).
Delivered 2,500 kg of used clothing and groceries from Chernivtsi to Zaporizhzhia.
Kseniia’s Team - NGO Livyj Bereh (“Left Bank”)
3 roofs repaired last week in Slatyne and Tsupivka.
Svitlana provided vegetables and aid to 2 hospitals in Kherson.
Helped 100 families in Berislav and 4 in Kherson.
Karina’s Team - We Save Dnipro
59 people live in the shelter.
Tetiana’s Team - Dopomoha Poruch
Distributed 160 aid packages to internally displaced refugees in Smila.
Distributed 120 packages to internally displaced, elderly and people with disabilities in Ternivka, Cherkasy region.
Distributed 230 aid packages in Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region.
Timur’s Team – Timur and Team
Kupyansk and Sloviansk have been synonymous with devastation where the impact of this war is visible everywhere. Both close to the front in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions have a population that, until recently, spoke mainly Russian.
Distributed 300 food and 100 hygiene packages in Saltivka, Kharkiv.
Delivered 87 food packages to Kupyansk.
Brought 150 food packages to Sloviansk.
Pavel and Olena’s Team - Touch of Heart and Dawn of Hope
Provided aid to 1,743 people through the Mykolaiv office.
Delivered 24.8 tons of vegetables to 548 families in the six villages near Mykolaiv (Myrne, Luch, Shevchenkove, Voskresensk, Zassillya, Novohryhorivka).
Brought 1.5 tons of water to Luch.
Andriy’s Team – BF Pomahaem
Delivered 120 packages to Kupyansk region.
Delivered 145 packages to Verkhnya Tersa. The team came under enemy fire, fortunately nobody was hurt.
4 trips, collecting applications for help from the German government near Kryvyi Rih.
Marina’s Team – Good Give Ukraine
Sent 75 packages to families who suffered from war to all parts of Ukraine.
Dina’s Team -- Vilni Liudy – Vilna Krayina (“Free People - Free Country”)
Distributed 680 packages of aid and mailed 100 more.
Bogdan’s Team - Vse robymo sami
42 families received food and aid packages.
Interior finishing work, which was suspended in the new inclusive “House of Joy” due to the cold, continues in the administrative part of the building.
Children with disabilities had counseling sessions and a field trip to a local arcade.
Alena’s Team – Virgo
Delivered 200 packages of aid and loaves of bread to residents of the 4th district of Kherson who are living without electricity under frequent shelling.
Delivered 408 6-liter jugs of water to 81 people in the town of Dobropillya in the Donetsk region where residents don’t have access to water.
Delivered 2,000 liters of fuel to Berislav, helping 300 homes run their generators for ~2 weeks.
How to Help
Donate - The money goes directly to teams providing aid on the ground, who respond dynamically to the most urgent needs.
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Fill out this form if you’re interested in volunteering with us, and we’ll let you know when opportunities come up.
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