December 11th, 2025
69,709 people evacuated from danger to date
50 people evacuated from danger this week
44 trips into deoccupied and frontline territories this week
Thanks to your generosity, we continue to make steady progress on our year-end matching campaign, already reaching 33% of our goal of $75,000. As you can see in today’s newsletter, this money is being put to good use. Thank you for thinking about Ukraine and our Ukrainian volunteers, and for supporting them through our organization this year.
We want to remind you that we accept donations in a variety of formats, including DAF and IRA distributions. Please also remember to check whether your employer offers a corporate donation match program that could further amplify your contribution.
Stories
When “Later” Becomes Too Late
Ihor’s report from Dobra sprava this week was hard to read. He writes with exhaustion and grief about people waiting too long to evacuate, hoping the danger will pass, hoping that the “peace negotiations” will not mean surrendering land still under Ukrainian control.
The team evacuated two wounded men, both originally from Kostyantynivka, whose lives were changed forever by that hesitation. One, Andryi, 54 years old, stayed behind to care for his parents when his wife and children evacuated. His mother died earlier this year. Later, a shell hit the house, wounding and burrying his father. Andryi tried to dig his father out of the burning rubble with his bare hands. His father did not survive, but a neighbor found Andryi with burns and shrapnel wounds and was able to bring him to the hospital for treatment.
The other, Oleksii, lost his daughter instantly when a mine flew through the window of their house. He suffered a concussion and shoulder injury, and was also taken to a hospital by a neighbor. His wife, son-in-law, and two-and-a-half-year-old grandson survived. The daughter is buried in the yard of their destroyed home.
Ihor finally asked the men, “So now you have evacuated?” They answered quietly, “Yes… now yes.” He could only think: one left without his father, the other without his daughter, both lost their homes and livelihood. Meanwhile, the last roads out of the eastern locations are barely holding. Camouflage nets that once shielded cars from drones are being torn apart, and strikes are increasing along the only three remaining routes. It feels like the walls are closing in. Yet our teams keep showing up to try and reach people before their “later” becomes too late.
Behind the Scenes of “Touch of Heart” and “Dawn of Dreams”
As the year draws to a close, we reconnect with our team leaders in Ukraine, to track how things have changed throoughout the year. This is also a time when we update our information about the makeup of each team and find out what each volunteer does. Since in our regular activities, our US operations team usuaally communicates only with the Ukrainian team leads. it’s easy to forget that all the incredible work described in these reports is the result of the concerted efforts of hundreds of people. Behind the somewhat repetitive bullet points hides the real, loving work of many volunteers, each one packing aid while sirens are blaring, or driving and unloading that aid at its destination, or performing the many daily administrative tasks to keep the volunteer effort and supply of aid going.
Here is Olena Shulha giving us a refresher on her and Pavel’s teams. Although the details are prosaic, they are the foundation of our trust, and our appreciation for everything our teams do:
Not counting Pavel and me, there are 18 people. Six of the volunteers regularly travel to villages, delivering food packages, water, clothing, and other aid to families living in frontline and remote communities. Thre volunteers work at the support office — they hold classes for children, talk with displaced mothers, provide emotional support, and help with practical matters. The other nine volunteers work every day on sorting humanitarian aid, loading and unloading vehicles, and helping in the warehouse so that everything reaches those in need on time.
Andryi is one of the people who travels to the villages. He says he already knows every pothole by heart. He leaves before dawn. After unloading, he finds a few minutes just to talk with people — for many, this is no less important than a bag of groceries. He says: “I can’t stop because I know they’re waiting for us there.”
A team of volunteers works in the warehouse — they jokingly call themselves “the invisible front.” They come early and stay late: they receive trucks, unload pallets, sort packages of 10–15 kg, and count everything to make sure it all matches. Sometimes it’s so cold they have to work wearing gloves, because they know the vehicle must leave on time. They say:
“We don’t always see the people who will receive these packages. But we know for sure: behind every bag is someone’s dinner, someone’s grandmother who can’t go to the store, some child waiting for their mother to come home with a package.”
Nataliia volunteers at the support office. She leads creative activities for displaced children. They draw their “dream house,” sculpt, and make collages. Often the children are quiet and withdrawn at first, but after a few meetings later they start to laugh, share stories, and ask when the next session will be. Nataliia says that for her the greatest reward is when a child who cried yesterday runs to hug her today.
The hardest thing right now for Pavel and me, as leaders and in our own volunteering, is that the team works under the constant threat of drones and shelling. All the settlements we visit are in the Kherson direction, so every trip is always a risk.
Our volunteers are physically very exhausted: every day they carry heavy boxes, water, and bags. Many have already injured their backs and suffer from chronic pain. Some of them are even afraid to go to the hospital because there is a risk they could be drafted, and then they wouldn’t be able to continue helping people.
Despite all this, the team keeps going, because everyone understands: people in the villages are waiting for us, and for many families our help is a matter of survival. We do not stop and we are incredibly, boundlessly, grateful to you for enabling us to keep going!!!
The Importance of Bread
Week after week, some of our Ukrainian volunteer teams distribute bread. Often, the volunteers mention bread separately from other food, giving it a place of honor among the other distributed groceries. American readers might not always realize the cultural importance bread continues to have in Ukraine. This week, one of the WeCare Centers volunteers explains:
Humanitarian aid in the form of bread is of critical importance [to us]. First, it covers a basic physical need. When people live in fear and uncertainty, regular access to food becomes the key to survival. Secondly, such aid reduces the feeling of isolation and abandonment. When people receive bread baked and delivered by volunteers or humanitarian organizations, they feel care and solidarity. This is psychological support, which is sometimes no less important than calories. Thirdly, humanitarian bread deliveries help maintain social stability. They allow communities to hold together and individuals to maintain their dignity in moments when everything around them seems to be collapsing.
Therefore, providing people with bread during the war is a simple but extremely important act. It is a manifestation of humanity that saves not only bodies but also hearts.
Team Summaries
Alina’s Team – Dobra sprava (Good Deeds)
10 trips, evacuating 48 people, 4 of them children.
Inna’s Team – Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope)
21.7 tons of aid delivered to 8,250 people.
6,600 people received bread.
Covered 32 locations, 14 of them in high-risk zones.
78.4 tons of firewood delivered to Oleksandrivka (in the vicinity of Kup’yans’k).
560 tons of firewood are in transit to eastern locations and a shelter in Samar.
Kherson's team performed deratization in 2 large basements, closed up windows in 1 building after shelling, and supported 30 people in Kherson’s red zones.
1 person evacuated from Kherson red zone.
Evacuated 1 person from Druzhkivka to Samar.
Took 3 trips to the East in extreme conditions.
Newly opened aid distribution point in Shevchenkove near Kup’yans’k. The shelter helped 78 people.
Angelia Charitable Fund
The mobile clinic traveled to Berizky in the Mykolaiv Region. Doctors spent 6 hours seeing 94 children. Provided medical services included dentistry, gynecological exams, osteopathic treatments, ultrasound, pediatrics, and psychological services.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Vladyslav K. (Mykolaiv): delivered 35 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv.
Vilis N (Mykolaiv): distributed 120 kg of tangerines, 4 boxes of bananas, 300 oranges, 500 apples, and 20 boxes of persimmons in Berizky, Mykolaiv District. Children also received gifts and candies.
Yuri S. (Vinnytsia): on 2 different days, brought food to 16 people staying at the “Safe Space” overnight homeless shelter in Vinnytsia. Brought 50 kg of apples for 15 internally displaced people (IDPs). Delivered 150 kg of apples, cabbage and clothing to the psychoneurological boarding school for 120 children in Stryzhavka, Vinnytsia Region.
Vitaliy Z. (Kharkiv): delivered 4 tons of humanitarian kits, clothes, medicine, and animal feed to Ostrozhets, Izium District. Delivered over 500 loaves of “Victory” bread to the deoccuppied village of Volokhov Yar, also in Izium District. Launched this year’s “Warmth in the Home” project, which provides 1 cubic meter of firewood to families who must rely only on woodburning stoves for heating. Firewood was distributed to 100 households in Rakivka and Savyntsi, in the Izium District, as well as in Sloviansk. Alongside the firewood distribution, delivered 46 tons of field briquettes to 153 families, also in Sloviansk. On International Volunteer Day, attended an award ceremony in Kramatorsk and received an award from the local administration, in recognition of the team's services to the people of the eastern locations.
Alla A. (Kremenets’): distributed food to 180 IDPs and gifts to 191 children with disabilities, IDPs and orphans. The orphans also received psychological assistance. Attended a meeting of NGOs in Ternopil to network and exchange experience, and received an award for our work in social services.
WeCare Centers (Lviv): distributed bread in Kremenets, Khmelnytskyi, Bila Tserkva, and Khotiv.
Oleksandr D. (Lutsk): Oleksandr’s driver Vadym had a difficult trip abroad, involving a vehicle breakdown in Germany, near the Polish border, that required several days of repair and complicated logistics. After all this, Vadym brought 1,800 kg of fire extinguishers, car tires, chairs, medicines, and clothes for children to Lutsk. The tires will be passed on to Inna’s team Krok z nadiyeyu. The rest of the aid will go to the East. The team receives frequent requests for fire extinguishers from the East, because of the constant missiles and drone attacks there. Vadym is now on his next trip to Germany.for more tires.
Oksana K. (Lutsk): twice, sent potatoes to a children's orphanage in Oleksandriya, Kirovohrad Region.
Oleksandr Z. (Lutsk): provided therapeutic interventions and aid to IDP children and families, children and adults with disabilities, children from military families, orphans, elderly people, military service members, and amputees in Lutsk and Ostrozhets'. 844 children and adults received help, including art therapy, theater therapy, music therapy, a “public cafe” event with treats and gifts, help with bread and other food, help with glasses, dental, medical, and preventive procedures, and help with the manufacture of prostheses and rehabilitation.
Darya’s Team
Darya’s team has been developing a new route for evacuations, as their previous route had become too dangerous. Evacuations are expected to resume next week.
Karina’s Team – My ryatuyemo Ukrayinu (We Save Ukraine)
96 people in the shelter.
Natasha’s Team – Volontersʹkyy tsentr Vyshnya (Cherry Volunteer Center)
Tetiana from Kryvyi Rih delivered 260 packages with hygienic products, as well as 38 packages for children to Kherson Region.
Aid was delivered to Stara Osokorivka and Nova Osokorivka villages.
Pavel and Olena’s Teams – Dotyk sertsya (Touch of Heart) & Svitanok mriy (Dawn of Dreams)
Large-scale vegetable distributions took place in Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
726 families received help in Afanasiivka, Kobzartsi, Prybuz’ke, Zasillya and Posad-Pokrovs’ke.
10.9 tons of vegetables distributed.
Held an event for children in the Mykolaiv office.
Pomahaem Foundation (We Help Foundation)
269 packages delivered to 8 villages near Nikopol’.
445 families received cash grants near Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro. The grants were provided by DRC (UHF) and Plan GFFO, with Ukraine TrustChain sponsoring logistics.
242 people arrived at Volos’ke transit center.
Marina’s Team – Daruy dobro Ukrayina (Give Good Ukraine)
150 food and hygiene packages were distributed to internally displaced people in Zhovti Vody.
Dina’s Team – Vilʹni lyudy, vilʹna krayina (Free People, Free Country)
Distributed 261 packages in Kanev, Kremenchuk, and Poltava.
Served 1,410 meals in Kharkiv soup kitchen.
Bohdan’s Team — Vse robymo sami (We Do Everything Ourselves)
Bohdan's organization celebrated its 23rd birthday this week.
42 families in Zhytomyr received food and hygiene kits.
At the club for children with disabilities, children attended art class and culinary class, where they baked a cake.
Alena’s Team – Diva (Virgo)
Helped 43 wounded in the Odesa hospital.
Distributed bread to 230 displaced families in Odesa.
Traveled to Kherson, delivering 200 packages of aid.
Anastasia’s Team – LoveUA
Traveled to Nekremenne to deliver 159 packages of food, 159 packages of hygiene aid, pet food, and 40 gingerbread house kits, as holiday gifts for children.
How to Help
Donate — The money goes directly to teams providing aid on the ground, who respond dynamically to the most urgent needs.
Fundraise — Organize fundraisers at your school, work, place of worship, with friends and family, etc.
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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.
Download and print our flyer. Ask your local coffee shop if you can add it to the bulletin, or use it as part of your fundraiser.
