Agricultural project
Those who actively follow the news from the ICF Step with Hope know that we are actively distributing seeds for planting. We give them out to internally displaced persons, people in difficult life circumstances, large families, and people from other segments of the population. At handing the seeds out, we always shower the people with wishes of good, of victory over anxiety, and hope for the best. We distribute seeds not only in large cities but also in small towns and villages. Residents of Volnyansk, Dergachi, Dovzhyk, Novomoskovsk, Pereshchepino, Znamenka, Mykolaivka, Slavyansk, Voznesensk, Verkhnodniprovsk, Volnogorsk, Izium, Krasnohrad and some villages in Poltava region are grateful for your care.
Destination Kherson
Kherson. Even though spring has fully come into its own, the shelling does not cease. Once an explosion even made the grass catch fire. At one point recently, Kherson was left completely without power, but, thank God, not for long.
And we are working as usual, doing our daily tasks like refueling generators, which then power dehumidifiers in the flooded areas, feeding abandoned animals, including one enormously huge dog, delivering medicine to those who have no one to take care of them, and also disinfecting and fumigating the premises from rats.
Having received grateful feedback, we are eager to share it with you:
“My name is Olga and I am very grateful to the Steps with Hope charitable foundation and Ukraine TrustChain, who have come to our aid many a time. The volunteer guys are very helpful, they come whenever we call them. They poisoned both rats and mice. Now we have mold, which started to grow when there was no heating or electricity so that we had to heat our home utilizing gas. Naturally, the mold appeared in the house entrances and in the apartments. And again, they came to our aid. I am very thankful to your organization. Thank you very much!”
Thekindergarten named Sonechko (“Little sun”) was flooded in the summer of 2023 after the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station was blown up. Before the war, many children used to run around in the yard of this preschool, as it was located practically in the downtown area of Kherson. After the de-occupation of Kherson, the teachers were hoping to see the children return, so that the yard would be filled with the happy noises of the youngsters. But the summer of 2023 covered almost the entire first floor of the building with water. The teachers of the institution had to make a lot of effort to clean up the damage caused by the swift water of the river overflowing its banks. The clean-up took them almost three months and was completed in autumn. Then mold appeared, followed by an invasion of rodents that destroyed everything remaining in the building. The management of the institution was unable to cope with the problem and did not even know where to start. But they learned about the team of our ICF Step with Hope. And they immediately turned to us for help. We removed the rats quite quickly but decided to postpone dealing with the mold until the weather got warmer so that we could execute the procedures and dry all of the rooms at once. And this week, 10 months after the water went down, we have finally removed all of the mold from the facility. It is striking that it will soon be almost a year since the dam was blown up, and we still have to deal with the consequences.
The leaders of the institution were very grateful for the help. They even made an official thank you post on the institution’s Facebook account, after which we received calls from other preschools and schools that found themselves in the same circumstances as “Sonechko”, but those are different stories. This one is about the hope that this particular kindergarten will one day be filled with children and their carefree laughter again.
Donetsk provided with bread
This week, the cities of Donetsk region were supplied with bread again with the support of Ukraine TrustChain. Lots of new families came to get some bread for the first time. We also distributed a lot of eyeglasses with the support of Restoring Vision. We also heard a lot of reviews from those who received the bread. Those words of gratitude are very inspiring, encouraging us to continue! This time, Kramatorsk and Slaviansk received 600 kg of food parcels and seeds for planting.
The situation in the towns is tense. But it is impossible to keep living waiting for something bad to happen all the time, this way one can eventually go crazy. That’s why people are starting to take up gardening and get busy with other household chores to distract themselves.
We would like to draw your attention to middle-aged people and younger ones. As we used to believe, our assistance is usually aimed at people who are not socially protected and at people of retirement age. But at the moment they happen to be most protected in the mentioned territories. Bread and other goods are brought especially for them. But the middle-aged people and the youth are forced to suffer because they have no jobs and no income. That is why we are trying to reach people of all ages with our help.
The kids of Kharkiv
We can talk about the programs in Kharkiv without ceasing, but let’s start with the feedback:
“My name is Tetiana Olehivna. I am a 62-year-old pensioner and an immigrant from Kharkiv. I am living in the village of Znamenka at present. I am sincerely grateful for the bread that is delivered to our village every week. I wish health to the leaders of the ICF Steps with Hope, the organizers, and everyone involved in this project. God bless you all. Sincere gratitude!”
We received many more verbal thanks during our trips along the Dnipro – Kharkiv – Mala Danylivka – Dergachi route.
There was also a meeting held for children, teenagers, and adults. We spent time talking, supporting, consulting, and listening to our visitors.
On Saturday, with the support of Ukraine TrustChain, bread was distributed to needy people. And then on Sunday, we were able to hand out seeds for planting as well. At the same time, we organized a community clean-up to clear up the area and then plant some flowers. Children of all ages, teenagers, and adults took part in the event. Afterwards, everyone received some tasty treats.
Dnipro and the surrounding area
Regarding Nikopol, last week we mentioned that the volunteers in Nikopol needed a minibus, as they had only passenger cars at their disposal. This week, a volunteer of ours managed to buy a minibus for the convenience of organizing the process of reaching out with our help for people. So almost immediately after that, we went on a mission trip to the village of Pivdenne in Nikopol district.
In this village, we provided eyeglasses to 104 people. We also provided targeted food aid to socially vulnerable people. We also organized appointments with an ophthalmologist, which was very much needed. However, due to the inability to find a room for receiving patients, the reception was held in the open air. There were no dissatisfied people. The doctor accepted everyone who needed to be seen, no one was left out. So this work keeps being done by our team.
As for Pavlohrad, we made trips to Pavlohrad – Dnipro – Ternivka to provide some humanitarian aid, that is 200 sets of seeds for planting and 600 pieces of bread.
In total, we have helped 500 IDPs, disabled people, and those in need. And we have received some grateful feedback:
“My name is Liudmyla Tikhonivna, I am 75 years old. I came from Horlivka all by myself. I am completely lonely, so your help is very important to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the bread and groceries.”
The update on Kryvyi Rih. We had several trips from Kryvyi Rih to Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih to Kherson. This week we worked fruitfully to provide everyone with seeds for planting and targeted assistance: this time, the wheelchairs. In Kherson, we also organized psychological rehabilitation training meetings for the local people and distributed food packages, including bread, with the support of Ukraine TrustChain. The total weight of the humanitarian aid was about 4,100 kg.
The stories of the people we help are impressively touching. There is Tamara, who is 49 years old. She lost her permanent job because of the war. Now she can only do temporary part-time jobs that do not allow her to live a normal life and provide for herself fully. What is worse, she recently lost her mother and is now all alone. She is very grateful for our help and support.
As for Kamianske, the place is humming along and we are grateful to each volunteer for their dedicated work. The following activities were organized here, at the Kamianske Humanitarian Center: receiving and distributing bread; bread, food and humanitarian aid delivery to the volunteer centers and distribution points in Kamianske for IDPs, people in difficult life circumstances, hospitals and internally displaced volunteers; transporting humanitarian aid around Kamianske (left and right banks); transportation of humanitarian aid from Dnipro to Kamianske and from Kamianske to Kryvyi Rih; distribution of 60 food packages; organization of charity dinners; organization of comprehensive, group psycho-social assistance.
We collect thank you notes from people like pearls on a precious necklace:
“I, Liubov Ivanivna Takarova, am 64 years old. I am a resident of the Donetsk region. I left my hometown on 16 April 2022 with my husband, who is now 70 years old. We also barely managed to get an elderly lady, an 85-year-old woman, out of the occupation. We have been renting an apartment for two years, but now we must move out because the owners are selling the property so we have to look for new housing. We spend almost all our money on housing and medical treatment. My husband is getting ready to have eye surgery (replacement of his eye lens), which costs 20,000 UAH. I would like to thank the sponsors for such a significant support that allows people to survive and move forward.”
We are also delighted to receive gratitude for the charity dinner for IDPs, large families, and low-income families.
“My name is Larysa Ivanivna Alamanova. I came to Kamianske in March 2022 from the city of Bakhmut with my mother, who is 83 years old. We were evacuated under shelling. We are very grateful for the help and support we receive, for the bread, which does not only nourish the body but also the soul.”
