January 11, 2024
58,563 people evacuated from danger to date
133 people evacuated from danger this week
28 trips into the deoccupied and frontline territories
The first week of the year is traditionally a holiday week in Ukraine. Although many Ukrainians have started celebrating Christmas on December 25th, shifting away from the “old calendar,” the first week is traditionally spent visiting family and friends. This time is particularly important for the volunteers, who have applied enormous efforts to reach as many people as possible before the New Year and now need some rest. While some volunteers are traveling and taking a well deserved break, others spent the week reorganizing their storages and working on administrative tasks. At the same, volunteers in Kharkiv, Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih are busy visiting shelters and homes of those who lost windows in rocket attacks on their cities last week and need urgent help as the winter temperatures set in. Major deliveries of firewood continued over the icy roads in the Kherson region and Donbas.
Stories
Grandpa Yevhen - a story from Dobra Sprava
The Dobra Sprava team met Yevhen during the evacuation from Toretsk, a community constantly suffering from enemy shelling. Yevhen ended up in a shelter in Dnipro, the city where he was born. He became ill, although he still moved with the help of crutches. After his hopes for a peaceful life were destroyed, and his physical condition deteriorated, he reached out to our team again:
"Alinochka, good afternoon. How good that you answered. Do you remember me? I am Grandpa Yevhen. You are my last hope..."
We are not doctors, but we realized that the situation was dire. We took Yevhen to a local hospital where he was diagnosed with cancer. We did not get clear answers, but our team understood that the only chance to save grandfather Yevhen was to treat him abroad.
Once you start to help and give someone hope - you can't stop anymore. We decided that we would help. We found the treatment, filled out required paperwork, collected documents - all of it was difficult, but thank God we succeeded. Hamburg Hospital agreed to help. We then struggled as we helped Yevhen obtain a foreign passport, purchased tickets, found people and resources to get him to the final destination.
But Grandpa Yevhen is now in Germany. At the end of the year, he underwent a vitally necessary surgery. The surgery was successful, as was the rehabilitation period. Now it's time for chemotherapy.
Our team at UTC was moved by this story. The volunteers aren’t only traveling non-stop to high-risk areas helping hundreds of people, but they also are able to continue to care about individual people and go out of their way to help them. We are happy Dobra Sprava’s team was able to save grandfather Yevhen’s life this way.
Evacuations from Russian-Occupied Left Bank Resume
This week 10 people with their pets were evacuated from Russian-occupied territory.
300 families received help in the occupied cities of Southern Ukraine.
Their hair grew back
Timur and team delivered firewood to this family and had to share the story of how they survived the occupation. When the Russian soldiers first invaded, they shot at everyone including the kids. Once the village was occupied the parents were terrified of what the soldiers would do to the girls, so they shaved their heads so they would look like boys. Everyone in the village did the same for their daughters. By now their hair has grown back, and the firewood will help them stay warm through this winter.
Firewood Deliveries Continue as Temperatures Drop
Firewood deliveries continue across Ukraine. Oleksandr Davydiuk has been delivering 3-5 trucks of firewood each week (!) to the villages in Kherson region. Inna is finishing up delivering hundreds of tons in the East of the country. Starting this week, another volunteer group will start delivering firewood even closer to the battlefield into the gray zone villages and towns. This process seems routine, but the small details volunteers mention in passing remind us how courageous and selfless these efforts are. Here are excerpts from the Inna's team's weekly update:
"Additionally, the first truck that was heading to Vishnevoe encountered a problem as the roads got icy. Right in Chuhuiv, where there is a long descent, the rear axle failed, and the truck spun around, blocking the main road. The military helped us by using their heavy equipment to pull it into a ditch to a safe area. The next day, another one of our trucks arrived, reloaded the firewood, and continued the journey.
On the trip to Studenok, the weather worsened even more, the temperature dropped to minus 20°C, and a blizzard began. And just before the final ascent, the Kamaz truck with a trailer couldn't climb anymore and started sliding back down. The trailer began to swerve onto the shoulder. The shoulder was marked with red flags, indicating it was mined, but fortunately, the truck did not hit a mine. We then couldn't pull the truck out with the heavy load. We decided to reload the firewood onto smaller trucks to deliver it to the people. In this way, with such adventures, the firewood reached its final recipients – the families of the Dolina settlement."
Team Summaries
Ihor’s Team – Dobra Sprava (“Good Cause”)
In 12 trips 129 people evacuated from Lyman, Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, Kostyantynivka, Druzhkivka, Pokrovsk, Toretsk, Kherson regions.
Inna’s Team – Krok z Nadiyeyu (“Step with Hope”)
7,850 people received 22.5 tons of aid.
Bread deliveries were made to 9,500 people.
Delivered 116 tons of firewood to 72 families in the Izyum region to Vyshneve and Studenok.
Kherson operation:
Helped to clear debris after massive shelling of Korabel neighborhood;
Performed 25 maintenance tasks;
Performed extermination in 13 buildings.
More trips to Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.
Evacuated a family of 4 from Slavyansk.
Delivered water to Nikopol and nearby 4 villages.
Delivered 55 gifts to two orphanages.
After the January 3 attack, helped a local dorm to cover windows and clean up the damage.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Oleksandr S (Boyarka): distributed more than 1.5 tons of food aid to the Sumy Region locations of Krasnopillya, Naumivka, Novodmytrivka, Pokrovka, Lisne and Myropillya.
Vladyslav K (Mykolaiv): transported 7 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv.
Sandra S (Odesa): kitchen fed more than 700 people.
Yuri S (Vinnytsia): took 500 kg of clothes and other supplies for internally displaced people (IDPs) and people with disabilities to a boarding school in Plyskiv (Vinnytsia Region). Bought a boiler, battery and plumbing equipment for an orphanage in Vinnytsia. Delivered groceries and food kits to the orphanage in Tsvizhyn (also Vinnytsia Region).
Oleksandr D (Lutsk): delivered 94 tons of fuel briquettes to 188 households in the Mykolaiv Region villages of Yur'ivka and Zymivnyk.
Oleksandr S (Lutsk): organized children’s events, mostly in Lutsk, with sweets and gifts throughout November-January. 11/25/23 - a thanksgiving holiday with gifts for 35 children; 12/16/23 - a charity concert to purchase first aid kits, with a buffet for the 200 participants; 12/27/23 - a New Year's holiday event with gifts for 46 children; 1/6/24 - a charity event for children from IDP families in Pidhaitsi (Ternopil Region) with gifts for 37 children.
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): Held 4 art therapy sessions for 65 children with disabilities, and children from military families and large families. Helped 173 people with food, as well as visits to a museum and to a performance for children in the Palace of Culture.
Natalia B (Kherson): distributed dairy products to 9 families.
Kseniia’s Team - NGO Livyj Bereh (“Left Bank”)
3 homes were covered with a roof in Tsupivka and Slatyne.
245 people received food and candles from Svitlana in Kherson and Dariivka. Kherson suffers from daily power disruption due to the enemy shelling the city.
Darya has helped 3 families to install windows and cover the hole with plywood for Kharkiv families whose apartments were damaged in last week’s attack.
Karina’s Team - We Save Dnipro
In collaboration with Dobra Sprava, delivered 3 potbelly stoves and gifts to 97 children in Lozove village.
67 people live in the shelter.
Helped 37 families in Nikopol with medicine, warm clothing, plastic to cover broken windows, and food.
Tetiana’s Team - Dopomoha Poruch
Distributed 150 aid packages to people whose houses were destroyed or damaged as the result of the rocket strike on Smila two weeks ago.
Distributed 60 aid packages to elderly and people with disabilities in Smila via the Department of Social Services.
Timur’s Team – Timur and Team
For the New Year’s holiday, the team delivered 2,000 gifts to children.
They distributed around 500 packages of food and hygiene products in Saltivka.
Separate home deliveries to 30 individuals with disabilities and 50 families with babies.
Pavel and Olena’s Team - Touch of Heart and Dawn of Hope
Due to icy roads the team took a week for rest, planning the next year and reorganizing the warehouse.
Andriy’s Team – BF Pomahaem
Pomahaem delivered a number of large shelter kits to 29 shelters housing 1,700 people. Kits included generators, beds, and mattresses.
Delivered 9 tons of water to Marhanets.
Pomahaem helped winterize a shelter in Dnipro that lost windows after the attack on December 29th.
Team made trips to Donbas region to vet aid recipients for the German government program supporting Ukrainians who have suffered from Russia’s terrorist war.
Team traveled to Myrnohrad where a rocket attack that has gone largely unnoticed damaged more than 70 homes.
Marina’s Team – Good Give Ukraine
150 aid packages were distributed in Zhovty Vody.
Dina’s Team -- Vilni Liudy – Vilna Krayina (“Free People - Free Country”)
Distributed 380 humanitarian aid packages
Bogdan’s Team - Vse robymo sami
Aid provided to 84 families this week.
Bogdan's organization “We Do Everything Ourselves” marked its 21st anniversary. The regional drama theater held a charity event called "21 years of good deeds" for the celebration, where members of children's organizations, parents, and partners were invited.
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