We Helped 24 Ukrainian Households Create More Dignified Living Conditions

Thanks to our support, 88 people from 24 households in Ukraine’s Sumy region gained more dignified living conditions. We primarily supported large families, elderly people, people with disabilities, and internally displaced persons by providing essential household appliances necessary for everyday life. Among them are Liubov and Olena from the city of Shostka.

When There Is No Stove or Refrigerator at Home 

As a result of the war, around 3.7 million internally displaced people are currently living in Ukraine. Many families were forced to leave their homes and seek safety farther from the front line. In older houses and temporary shelters where they are trying to start over, basic household equipment is often missing — especially appliances needed for cooking, storing food, or washing clothes. Everyday life is therefore accompanied by challenges many of us can hardly imagine: food spoiling, being unable to prepare warm meals, or struggling to wash clothes in improvised conditions. 

Liubov: “We lived for an entire month at minus two degrees…” 

The situation in the Shostka district has long been tense and unstable. Daily shelling affects infrastructure, transport, and civilian buildings, and often results in civilian casualties.

Alongside the worsening security situation, Ms. Liubov’s family from the village of Voronizh also faces difficult living conditions at home. The past winter was especially hard for them — due to a heating failure, they spent an entire month living in temperatures as low as minus two degrees Celsius. Despite this, Liubov continues trying to create a sense of home and safety for her children.

Liubov loves cooking and baking. Thanks to the support, she was once again able to bake her family’s favorite Easter bread.

Thanks to do Support, She Could Bake Easter Bread for Her Children Again

Liubov is the mother of six children, two of whom have disabilities. Today, she lives with her four sons, while her older daughters are already adulst. The family mainly depends on a small farm – raising livestock and cultivating a small plot of land.

Before receiving assistance, their appliances were in poor technical condition or frequently broke down. Thanks to support from the fundraising campaign, the family received a new washing machine, refrigerator, gas stove, and microwave oven.

“I am very, very grateful to everyone who helped my family,” says Liubov.

What brings her the greatest joy is being able to cook and bake for her children again.

“I’ve already baked cakes and cooked meat. I really love cooking. I was worried that this year I wouldn’t be able to bake Easter bread for my children because our old oven had broken down,” she explains.

A long-time dream also came true for her:

“I had always dreamed of having a microwave oven. Every time I went to town, I looked at them in stores, but I never dared spend money on one.”

Olena: “We Could Never Have Afforded New Appliances Ourselves”

Olena lives in the city of Shostka with her three children aged 6, 8, and 18. One of her children has a disability, and caring for the family is therefore her constant, everyday responsibility. At the same time, her situation does not allow her to leave the region.

For a long time, the family had been using old and malfunctioning appliances. Their refrigerator needed replacing, the gas stove and oven no longer worked, and the washing machine had insufficient capacity before eventually breaking down completely.

“I have an 8-year-old child with a disability, so I have to wash large amounts of clothes and bed linen. The washing machine was too small, and then it broke down,” Olena explains.

Thanks to the support, the family received an electric stove with an oven, a larger-capacity washing machine, and a new refrigerator. “This support is very important for us because we use these appliances every day. Replacing them with our own resources would have been extremely expensive for our family,” she says.

Olena is also unable to work because she provides continuous care for her daughter with a disability. The family’s situation is further complicated by the security conditions in the region. “Recently, a drone crashed near our house. It was very frightening. We don’t even have a shelter. But it is difficult for us to leave because my daughter needs regular medical check-ups and sometimes urgent medical care.”

For her daughter’s disability-related needs, Olena has to wash large amounts of clothing and bed linen on a daily basis.

The Support Also Carried Messages of Solidarity

A total of 385 donors contributed to the fundraising campaign on the Donio platform. Along with financial support, they also sent messages of encouragement to families in Ukraine. Their words most often expressed solidarity, hope, and support.

Ľubomíra wrote: “Wishing you strength and courage. One day this will end. Hopefully soon.”

Marcel sent this message: “Stay strong, we will help you. Glory to Ukraine.”

Jaroslava wrote: “I am deeply sorry for what you have had to endure for four years already. Every day I pray for the war to end so that you no longer have to live in constant fear for your lives, in the cold, without food. Stay strong!”

These messages also showed that the support was not only material. It brought an important feeling that Ukrainian families were not left alone in their situation. On behalf of the supported Ukrainian families, we thank everyone who contributed to the campaign.

For the fourth consecutive year, we continue helping people affected by the war in Ukraine – supplying collective centers with food, drinking water, and hygiene items; reconstructing air-raid shelters at schools and kindergartens; providing psychosocial support; and distributing generators, warm jackets, and blankets during the winter months. Join us in helping people in Ukraine and give them more dignified living conditions.