March 30, 2023
49,661 people evacuated from danger to date
225 people evacuated from danger this week
36 trips into the deoccupied and frontline territories
We are excited to continue supporting the large-scale agrarian project which three UTC teams, Natasha, Pavel, and Inna, are leading. The teams are scaling the project, with more than 15,000 Ukrainians receiving seed packs and the project’s spanning 7 regions. Distributing seeds is a high priority right now due to the short window for sowing.
Inna’s team distributed over 6,000 sets of seeds to people in the Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhzia, and Kherson regions to start spring planting. In Nikopol’, despite intense shelling, and only about 40,000 residents remaining, many of whom are elderly and people with disabilities, people are still holding onto hope and energized by their gardens. Inna’s team distributed 70 sets of seeds to this village last week.
Before the war, many of these small, remote villages, such as Drushkovka, had thriving economies and prosperous infrastructure with hospitals, schools, daycares, and multi-residential buildings. But within months of the war, these areas became cut off from communications, many people evacuated, businesses shut down. Many schools closed, and doctors left. People lost their jobs and source of income; food and medicine prices became too high for people to be able to pay. The residents of these regions along with internally displaced people survive due to the humanitarian relief from organizations like Inna’s.
Gardens not only provide self-sufficiency and agency, but for people in their second year of war, the seeds also offer the knowledge of sustaining families through the next winter. Inna and her team are very grateful for all of your help in financially supporting the Ukrainian people living in desperate circumstances.
Ukraine Team Milestones
Kseniia’s Team - NGO Livyj Bereh
The Liviy Bereh team repaired 3 houses this week, celebrating the 100th roof repair. The hundredth house belongs to Liubov and Mykola. They did not leave their home and spent 8 months under constant shelling. Liubov was a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature at the local now destroyed school. Mykola was a veteran, and one of the people who took part in the cleanup operation after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster.
Darya, a Kharkiv volunteer continued on her mission to get as many people out of the village of Dvorichna with Russian advance just a few hundred meters away. Helicopter, artillery and mortar attacks are common on that stretch of the front with some of trapped Ukrainians, who had failed to leave previously, now desperately trying to escape the ruins of their homes.
Meanwhile, Olga and Svetlana, Kherson-based volunteers distributed 200 aid packages to the village of Vysoke; food, diapers, and formula for 40 families in Kherson; and diapers for children and immobile adults in the town of Stanislav.
We were also happy to learn that Kseniia finished distributing more than 50 tons of soup mixes and protein bars from the delivery we facilitated through our amazing partner World of Connections.
Bogdan - Vse robymo sami
Ukraine TrustChain has started to support Bogdan’s organization We Do Everything Ourselves that has been working in Zhytomyr for 20 years. Bogdan started to volunteer at the age 16. He lost his parents early and had to care for his 5 younger siblings. To keep them and other children from impoverished families and challenging living circumstances occupied, he organized activities and clubs. This grew into his passion, his career, and his life calling. Now he manages a center for rehabilitation which holds classes for children as well as theater and chorus for the elderly. The center supports children from low-income, large families, children with disabilities, and orphans. And now, more families–displaced due to war – have been added.
In these 20 years Bogdan’s center held 2,700 charity events and helped over 30,000 families.
Right now 230 families (about 400 children) are under Bogdan’s care. Children come to the organization for various activities, as well as for emotional support through play, and physical rehabilitation, and food packages.
Ihor — Dobra Sprava (“Good Cause”)
This week the team of Dobra Sprava consisting of 9 heroic volunteers completed 15 evacuation trips, moving 187 people to safety from the Kherson region. Some people wanted a ride to the train station from where they could continue their travels; others had friends or family with whom to stay in Dnipro. The rest traveled to shelters in and around Dnipro.
Inna’s Team - Krok z Nadiyeyu
Week after week, Inna’s team continues to deliver aid to thousands of people across 7 major regions of Ukraine. Last week 8,600 people received aid packages, and 11,000 more people received bread.
Some of the trips were more dramatic than others. Volunteers felt the aid they delivered to Berislav, perhaps the most bombarded town in the Kherson region, was especially meaningful. Residents with disabilities experience particular challenges there. Inna’s team was able to deliver food, adult diapers and a generator that will allow many families to cook food. Currently electricity is available only 2-3 hours a day, making this generator especially valuable.
Aid was delivered to the frontline areas of Donetsk region, Druzhkovka, Konstantynifka, and Mykolayivka and Nikopol in Dnipro region.
Meanwhile, our most ambitious project to date of helpling 15,000 families plant vegetables this year is gaining speed. Inna’s team managed to take trips to 41 towns last week distributing more than 6,000 seed packages.
9 of these trips were to frontline zones and areas of active bombardment. It is difficult to fully process this, but the families living in damaged homes are determined to work on their fields this year and are extremely grateful for the seed packages that they view as both a psychological support and an insurance against the potentially difficult winter in the coming year.
Natasha’s Team - Vysnia Volunteer Center
Natalia finished moving her warehouse and headquarters to the new location. On Sunday she once again headed out to the frontline zones in the East, and was still coming back from the trip as we were putting this report together. We will have a more detailed report available next week.
Pavel’s Team — Touch of Heart and Dawn of Hope
5,420 people received help from Olena and Pavel’s team last week. 11 tons were delivered to the Kherson region to the villages of Balabanovka, and Novomykolaivka. Meanwhile, Pavel’s team is also taking part in the project to assist farmers during the planting season. He delivered 5 tons of potatoes to the communities near Mykolayiv, the villages of Zasyllia and Partyzanske that we have been supporting for many months.
Oleksandr’s Volunteer Network
Pavlo V’s team in Dnipro delivered groceries to the Donetsk Region – Dobropillya (20 boxes), Druzhkivka (750 kg) Kramatorsk (960 kg) and Slovians’k (3,675 kg). The volunteers also brought food and hygiene items to a low-income family with a baby, living in depressingly squalid conditions. The war is especially terrible for babies who were born in this difficult time and fight a war of their own – for survival. This week the team had an opportunity to help a young veteran who was wounded in combat and can no longer walk. His mother couldn’t afford a wheelchair until Pavlo’s team managed to procure one for her son. Fresh bread and humanitarian aid were also delivered to the Christian House of Mercy in the Dnipropetrovsk Region, which houses IDPs and people with disabilities. The bread is a reminder for them of happier times and home.
Vladyslav K’s team delivered 30 tons of drinking water to 11 points in Mykolaiv and distributed food kits to the Mykolaiv Region – Nova Odesa (150), Buz’ke (100) and Horokhivka (180).
Andriy P’s team, also working from Mykolaiv, has continued distributing aid from his previous trip to Germany. 95 boxes were sent by mail to Dnipro, Selydove, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Kramatorsk. 31 boxes were sent by car to Beryslav. Personal deliveries of groceries, bicycles, spare parts and tools were made to IDPs in Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Soledar and Selydove. Medicines from Germany were donated to a hospital in Mykolaiv and a car delivered to the Central District Hospital in Obukhiv (Kyiv Region).
Sandra S’ kitchen in Odesa fed more than 700 people, including those who are bedridden. For now the kitchen continues to operate on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Nazar P’s team in Kherson distributed gift boxes to 50 children and served food kits and water to 150 people. Viktor V’s team in Lutsk distributed 30 aid packages for IDPs in Shatsk, 20 food kits for IDPs, pensioners, disabled persons and mothers with many children In Lutsk.
Oleksandr M who runs the NGO My Vdoma (We Are Home) from Hostomel' is a new addition to Oleksandr D’s group of teams. This week, Oleksandr’s team went to the village of Krasnohorivka in the Donetsk Region. On the way they spent the night in the village of Iskra, where they also delivered groceries, chocolate, hygiene products and clothes to 40 evacuees from the destroyed city of Maryinka who live at a sanatorium in Iskra. The rest of the aid, totaling 1.5 tons (grocery sets, diapers, clothes and hygiene products for the locals and protein bars, protein shakes and soups for the military) were taken to Krasnohorivka, which is located 8 km from occupied Donetsk. Oleksandr then returned to Hostomel’, driving 1,600 km in two days.
Oleksandr Z’s NGO Zirka Nadiyi (Star of Hope) conducted four clay modeling art therapy workshops at the Prolisok State Rehabilitation Center, Adrenalin City shelter and the Zirka Nadiyi headquarters. Attendants included children with disabilities, children from large families and IDPs. Workshops were led by social pedagogue Maria Zan who introduced the children to various birds, through clay modeling and birdwatching. Zirka Nadiyi also distributed 60 sunglasses and 54 prescription glasses to IDPs with disabilities and pensioners and helped with groceries and diapers for two families with disabled children and eight large families.
Tetiana’s Team - Dopomoha Poruch
This week was difficult for Tetiana: her family buried Tetiana’s brother-in-law who was killed at the front. Despite this grief, Tetiana’s team delivered aid to the orphanage in Korsun'-Shevchenkivs'kyi – some furniture for the bomb shelter, sweets and school supplies. The team also brought supplies for the warming center in the village of Mikhailivka, and distributed 70 aid packages to the elderly and to residents with disabilities in Smila via the social services department. Tetiana mailed aid packages to people far from Smila who requested aid as well.
Karina’s Team - We Save Dnipro
This week Karina’s team evacuated 26 people from Kurakhovo, Druzhkovka, and Konstantinovka. Karina and her team also evacuated 12 people from Zaporizhzhia where a rocket destroyed a residential building. Karina was in Zaporizhzhia on business during the rocket attack, and rushed over to see how she could help. She felt that the hospital in Dnipro would be better equipped to help people who were injured, and she took some back with her, returning again with her husband and friends to drive even more people out.
There are currently 87 people living at the shelter. This week the team also sent and delivered 170 packages of aid and brought much needed medicine to the hospitals in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro.
Karina does not see her heroism as such. She says she has no choice. And when her husband called her after the attack on Zaporizhzhia, she said he already knew that she would be at the epicenter helping.
Alena’s Team - Virgo
This week Alena’s team traveled again to unoccupied territories, specifically to the towns of Pervomaysk, Kisilevka, and Maksimovka. They brought generators, food, hygiene products, candles, and medicine. The medicine came from Germany along with two volunteers who brought it. The German volunteers only made it to the first town because the process of translating and explaining what the medicine was for took a long time.
This time, Alena also brought a crew to measure the windows in the homes that have been destroyed and provide an estimate for repairs. The generators will be used to pump water from wells and charge power tools as the villagers clean up and repair their homes. Electricity is returning in some places, but still not reliably. The road into the villages is mined along the sides and littered with animal carcasses. As usual, the mental and emotional toll of these trips is heavy, but Alena was back in action the next day, delivering two large generators to women’s hospital and birthing clinic #5 in Odesa, the largest such hospital in Odesa, serving more than 2,000 women per year. One of the generators will be used for the bomb shelter at the hospital, which is outfitted with an operating and a delivery room, as well as cribs for the newborns. The second generator will serve the women’s clinic.
Angelia - Mobile Clinic
On March 23rd, the mobile clinic visited the city of Yahotyn in the Kiev Region. At the start of the war this city was 40 km from the frontline. Though it wasn’t subjected to shelling, the city received many internally displaced persons (DPOs) from the Chernihiv Region, Zaporizhzhia, Berdyans'k, Mariupol, the Donetsk Region, and Kherson. The mobile clinic included a family doctor, ENT, endocrinologist, cardiologist and a lab for blood, urine, sugar and lipid analysis. 75 patients received 327 services. Notable cases included a woman who was treated for pneumonia of which she was not aware. The antibiotics probably saved her life. Another woman came to see an endocrinologist but was diagnosed also with suffering from panic attacks and was referred to a psychologist for help.
Meanwhile, Angelia’s humanitarian aid team traveled to Kramatorsk delivering sleeping bags, medicine and 346 boxes of groceries to the Skhidnyy Yanhol school. From there, these will be distributed to the population of Kramatorsk, Slovians’k and other locations.
Marina’s Team — Good Give Ukraine
Marina’s team held special events at their distribution centers for families with small children, giving away diapers, wipes, baby food, formula and hygienic sets for mothers. Usual food packages were distributed along with blankets. Marina’s group supplied food and vegetables to the community living place they commonly support, home to many with disabilities. They also reorganized the center in Zhovti Vody for spring clothes distribution and started to prepare Easter food kits.
Andriy’s Team - BF Pomahaem
Andriy’s team continues to work on getting more humanitarian aid to distribute to refugees in Dnipro. Meanwhile the team resumed weekly trips into areas that need help. They made two trips, to Nikopol and Novomoskovsk, delivering substantial aid packages to 500 families. Meanwhile 79 people continue to live in Andriy’s shelter, 29 of them - children.
As Andriy’s conflict with the leadership of his denomination reached its peak a week earlier, last week Andriy took a vow of silence and is spending the next few weeks in meditation as we continue to work with his well-organized team and volunteer leaders.
Timur’s Team – Timur and Team
After a week of replenishing supplies and recovering from illnesses for several volunteers, Timur’s team is back to daily deliveries. The team has delivered 250 packages around Kharkiv, mostly to the people with disabilities that Timur’s team supported over the last few months. They also delivered 150 packages to the bombarded Slavyansk, and 450 packages close to the frontline to Kupiansk Vuzlovy and Novoosynove.
Dina’s Team - Vilni Liudy – Vilna Krayina
This week, thanks to humanitarian aid packages provided by Vostok SOS, Dina’s team distributed aid to 1,346 displaced families. In addition, they mailed 185 packages from Dnipro to people trapped in areas with shuttered stores and inaccessible to deliveries of humanitarian aid.
Every volunteer in Dina’s team dedicates part of their time to search and apply for aid from other organizations. This week in Kanev, the team helped displaced families with donated footwear and in Kremenchuk and Krasnokutsk with vitamins and basic medicine.
We are still supporting the art therapy group for children in Kremenchuk with art supplies and snacks.
Sergey T and his Kharkiv-based church group traveled once again to a small town of Novoosinove in the Kupyansk region. The aid they delivered was sponsored by several organizations, including Ukraine TrustChain, working together. They were able to provide 100 packages of food, 100 packages of hygiene products, 100 warm blankets, 50 sets of sweets and treats for children, and 20 potbelly stoves.
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