As Ukraine celebrated its second Orthodox Easter in war this weekend, many of our teams have been distributing traditional Easter cakes called “paski” to thousands of people across Ukraine.

This week marks UTC teams’ rescue of 50,094 people through evacuations.

Recently Ukraine TrustChain 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.

Recently Ukraine TrustChain 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.

From its inception, UTC has demonstrated the possibilities of local, grass-roots volunteer efforts in making a deep impact on communities in Ukraine suffering under war.

It has been one year since UTC began in the first days of the Russian invasion as a form of support and resistance. Please join our US team for a donor Zoom call on March 23, 2023, from 7-8pm CST.

I’ve just come back from my almost four week trip to Ukraine. I described the first part of the trip in our previous letter here. Although I’ve already captured many key insights in last week’s letter, there are a few important experiences I want to share with you.

We were able to reinforce the powerful bonds of trust and gratitude that connect all of us, donating and fundraising outside of Ukraine to the volunteer teams we support.

It’s been a year since Russia began a full-scale invasion. A year of pain, explosions, fear, a year of exile and disbelief, a year of state-sponsored terrorism by Russia and a year of atrocities. But it has also been a year of heroism, resistance and personal growth for millions of Ukrainians and Ukraine as a whole.

It's been almost a year since the start of the full-scale invasion and we are trying to take stock of our teams’ accomplishments and operations.

The Ukrainian song is the bottomless soul of the Ukrainian people - this is its glory. Ukrainians do not philosophize when writing songs; songs just grow like flowers in green fields. In them, the soul confesses.

Week after week we post various images of the war, not all of them manage to convey the simple point that there is a whole infinitely precious and complicated human life behind every picture and every package.

As we approach the end of January, teams persist in their efforts with continued drive, despite their personal exhaustion, both physical and emotional.

Within hours of the attack, our volunteers including Inna, Dina, Karina, and some of Andriy and Oleksandr’s teams, were at the site, helping with aid distribution, delivering warm drinks to rescue workers, and providing comfort to residents of the building.

While the battle for Bahmut and Soledar keep burning and smoldering in the East of Ukraine, our teams completed another week full of important and meaningful work.

As soon as the explosions ceased, people of Kyiv redoubled their united, defiant cheers from their balconies, rejoicing and celebrating in the darkness without fear.

As we approach the end of 2022, we can’t help but reflect on the stories, photographs, phone and Zoom calls, videos, texts, and connections with volunteers in Ukraine that we here in the US have experienced.

For this holiday season, consider the vital, life-saving gift that you could offer by continuing to support UTC volunteers in their selfless work.

Today, despite the rain, again there was a big room full of people. The team distributed 120 humanitarian aid packages consisting of butter, salt, and bread. People come for food and also for words of comfort, though outside it is so loud.

As we race to help as many people as possible before the onset of winter, the world is preparing for the winter holidays.