Firewood is not a luxury but a means of survival
This week, residents of Druzhkivka, Donetsk region, finally received firewood. 32 families gladly and gratefully accepted help from us, saying that in their current circumstances, firewood is a luxury. Unfortunately, the situation in the town is quite intense at the moment. The frontline from the side of Bakhmut is very active, the shelling is becoming more frequent and also loud. Most importantly, it scares people a great deal. There are no jobs to take or livelihood. That’s why mere firewood and simple communication with people in this area is considered a luxury.
31 families in the Kharkiv region were also grateful for our help, that is, the firewood. The situation here is a bit different. The villages of Kyrylivka and Gontarivka in the Volchansk district are still experiencing power cuts. Gas is out of the question. Heating in these areas is mostly stove-based. And almost all of the locals living here are either disabled people or single pensioners. It was these vulnerable people that we came to support.
Of course, we wouldn’t like to ignore people’s feedback:
Lyubov Stepanovna says: “Greetings! Thank you so much for the firewood! I live with my mother and my older brother Andrii. My brother and I are out of job at the moment, so we all live on my mother’s pension. My mom has a small pension, which we use to pay our utility bills. We have not used gas for two years already because we have no money to pay for it, it is very expensive. We heat the stove with some wood and cook our meals on it. It was me and my brother who used to collect branches and bring them home to heat the house and prepare food. I am very grateful for the firewood. As well as the food. Thank you again!”
Anastasiia Yuriivna, 28 years old, has a first-grade disability after suffering a stroke. She lives in the Kharkiv region with her aunt, 43, who takes care of her. The situation is very difficult, the house is falling apart without a man’s hand, and it is almost impossible for two women to stock up on firewood on their own. Therefore, our help was extremely necessary and timely for this family.
Valentina Alexandrovna, 60 years old, lives in the Kharkiv region. She used to work as a milkmaid on the farm, but now she is unemployed due to the situation in the village, so she is retired. She has five adult children, but two of them are at war and the third one is considered missing. She lives alone and does not expect any help from anyone. She is deeply thankful for the firewood.
Kherson is in pain again…
or We are responsible for those we have tamed
Kherson. There is daily shelling, there are strikes on the houses every single day.
They have struck an apartment building twice, hitting directly into one of the apartments. People can no longer live in such shelled houses. In addition, water supply and sewerage pipes are ruptured as a result of the shelling. The people are left without water, gas, or electricity, and in some cases without any of those altogether.
So our work in this region is never done. Every morning, we begin again with a fresh start going from disinfection, pest control, and to drying procedures.
Due to the high humidity caused by the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station and the flooding of the city, the apartments are full of mold. But after our help, the walls are white and clean as they once used to be. So we continue drying the premises and keep receiving constant words of appreciation from the content residents of the dried apartments.
And here’s a new task that our volunteers are happy to do. Now, a very interesting dog, named Ray, has emerged and got into the care of our team in Kherson.
His owners turned to us asking for help. The area where the dog’s owner Mykhailo and his wife had been living is now considered to be the red zone. Frequent air strikes, periodic lack of electricity, heating and water supply problems made it impossible for the family to live a normal life in their home. They decided to evacuate to a safer place. But no one wanted to rent out their apartment to people with such an enormous dog. So Mr. Mykhailo asked us to help him keep an eye on the dog and feed it. We agreed. He left us the keys to his yard and provided us with the dogfood. So now every morning we come to feed the doggie in the hope that this horror of Kherson shelling will soon end and the animal’s owners will return. Until then, our team of volunteers in Kherson is taking care of the tail-waggers. We don’t leave anyone behind. We keep helping everyone with love.
Helping out in the Donetsk region
When we go to the Donetsk region, we try to take as many options of aid as possible. In the towns of Konstantynivka and Druzhkivka, we distributed 100 loaves of bread and 120 food packages. Household chemicals were delivered to Kramatorsk and Slavyansk. The delivery was made right before the local holidays, so there was a great demand for such help. The situation in the cities is tense, and household chemicals are more expensive than in other cities of Ukraine. Naturally, under the current circumstances the people do not have enough money to provide their families with everything they need. The gratitude from the locals for the ordinary household chemicals moved us to tears.
Gratitude from the residents of Kharkiv region
ZNAMYANKA
“I, Ivan Fedotovych, a 69-year-old pensioner, finally moved to the village of Znamianka, Kharkiv district, Kharkiv region, after the outbreak of war and currently live here. Right now, I am recovering from an emergency surgery, so I am financially impoverished, as I have incurred considerable expenses for the restoration of my health. I am grateful to the International Charitable Foundation “Step with Hope” for the free loaves of bread provided on a weekly basis and I wish all the people involved in this cause a peaceful sky above their heads!”
PERVOMAISKY
Our help was received by pensioners, IDPs, disabled people, large families, the unemployed and the refugees.
“My name is Elena Ivanovna. I am 67 years old. A lonely pensioner. Two years ago, I took in four internally displaced people from the north of Kharkiv region. Two of them do not have any documents with them at all, as there is no single house left surviving in the village they came from. I deeply appreciate your help thanks to which I am able to continue supporting the IDPs who are staying at my house with me.”
Kamianna Yaruga and Mala Danylivka
In this area, we were blessed to be thanked by teenagers and parents of kids, who had got some arts and crafts classes on bracelet weaving, as well as received weekly bread and food parcels.
Inexhaustible Nikopol, Dnipro region
As you may know, the city of Nikopol suffers from a water shortage. Every time we go there, we try to replenish their water supplies at least a little bit, to remind the people they are not alone. So we try to express our support with every liter of water we provide. This week 800 bottles of water were brought to Nikopol. Some of them were sent to the villages of Zakamyanka, Mendelieievka, Okhotnyche, Sholokhovo, Maksymivka and the town of Marganets.
In addition to the organized water distributions, 60 families received targeted help and were genuinely grateful for it.
Here are some of their stories.
Valentyna Rasovtseva is a pensioner and a cancer patient. She lives alone and has no relatives to take care of her. Her only son lives on the other side of the border (between Ukraine and Russia). For obvious reasons, the connection between the two is broken. Yet, long years of her lonely struggle with the serious illness could not break her resilient nature. She remains optimistic and active.
Serhii Pronin, a father of two. Despite his relatively young age, Serhiihas come a long way. Unfortunately, youth is a “shortcoming that passes quickly”. It leaves only memories and mistakes that you work to correct in maturity. But Serhiipasses the times of trial with hope for a better future. His second marriage, unfortunately, was no better than the first one. Alimony, conflict with his both wives, abandoned children, years of wandering and searching for himself, life in a dormitory – you name it! The young son from the second marriage, who is staying with his father, is only person he would like to keep living and moving on for.
Kryvyi Rih outside the city
The ever active group of volunteers in Kryvyi Rih is working hard and systematically not only in their city, but also travelling outside their home area. Food parcels and medicines were delivered to the frontline area. Also, the weekly bread distribution was relevant, as it always is. The weight of the distributed humanitarian aid amounted 3000 kg.
Pavlo, a 75-year-old IDP from Kurakhovo, whose house was completely destroyed, and who has no relatives left, depends on state support at present. He is very grateful for our contributions.
Amazing stories from Kamianske
“I am Olga, 34 years old, a resident of Sievierodonetsk. At the beginning of the war, when shelling began to be heard more and more often in our town, the residents began to leave. My family and I left our home, too. At the moment we are renting a house near the district center, but I hope to return home, as there is hope that our house is still habitable. I am very grateful to the sponsors for such a significant support in challenging times like these. Thank you and God bless you.”
“My name is Inna Borysivna. I am 62 years old. In 2022, I came here from Dobropillya, Donetsk region. I’m living in the town of Kamianske righ separately from my children. In these difficult times, I am sincerely grateful for the humanitarian aid, for the bread, and for the care you give to all of us!”
In total, 8,100 people received our humanitarian aid and another 9,500 people got the free bread.
Psychological support and restoration of mental health
There is so much to tell you about the psychological and social direction of our foundation’s activities! A great amount of work has been done to implement various projects.
Regular meetings of psychological support groups are all about learning to live a full life in the new environment and coping with stress. These meetings are led by Natalia Khoroshykh, the coach trainer.
The Anti-Stress English Club aims to help people overcome stress by learning a foreign language. It is led by coach Natalia Khoroshykh and coach Pavel Bilan.
The meetings of the Positive Parenting Club are designed to help improve the atmosphere in the family and to become more aware of building relationships with children. Victoria Eremenko is the one who teaches people about such important matters.
The Evenings of Hope give an opportunity to have a private conversation with a chaplain to discuss issues related to the emotional and spiritual state of a person. Such meetings are held by the spiritual advisor Oleksiy Korobka.
The Positive Ukrainian Club does not only help a person learn Ukrainian but also makes one fall in love with it. In addition, everyone can get a charge of positive emotions. Iryna Zhabrovets, the coach and consultant teamed with Olena Shkurko, the Ukrainian language teacher, both help the others to swim in the ocean of grammar and spelling knowledge of our native language.
