GreaterGood’s Donations Help Blind Ukrainian Refugees and Those Displaced by Recent Bombings

As the war in Ukraine continues, GreaterGood has continued to use your generous donations to fund deliveries of food and a variety of supplies for Ukrainians in need.

The need there is just as pressing now as it was on day one. Buildings and infrastructure continue to be destroyed by Russian bombs, people continue to lose their homes and access to power and other resources, and the supply chain continues to back up further as time drags on.

For over a year, we’ve been collaborating with our sister non-profit, Greater Good Charities, as well as other organizations like Siobhan’s Trust, to bring hot meals, non-perishable food items, warm blankets, baby supplies, medical kits, pet food, and more to those who need these goods. We continue to need your help to make it happen.

We’d like to share with you here some of the projects we’ve done recently to help people in Ukraine.

In early March, 2023, there was an attack in an area of Ukraine near Zaporizhzhia that killed 13 people and destroyed a five-story apartment building. It also damaged surrounding homes. Greater Good Charities and Siobhan’s Trust spent a few days cooking pizzas at the site shortly after the attack happened to help provide food to rescue crews and displaced citizens.

Now, a month later, we’re also supplying around 150 displaced families from that location with food boxes and blankets to keep them fed and warm as they seek to improve their living conditions. Most of them are now in rental homes or living with relatives, but there are still some living in very difficult situations, like one man who resides in a garage near the destroyed apartment. Your donations are helping them stay afloat and alive during this immensely difficult time.

In April, we visited a shelter for the blind in Dnipro, Ukraine. The shelter is located inside a factory that was originally established by the Ukrainian Association for the Blind and used to employ the visually impaired in making railway tracks. Now the director, Serhiy Kit, has turned it into a home for blind and visually impaired people who have been displaced from their homes during the war, mostly in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions.

Nina Yevtushenko, GreaterGood’s on-the-ground representative in Ukraine, visited the facility with Greater Good Charities. She reports that the facility is very clean and well run, but it is still crowded, with 10-15 people living in a room together. She helped distribute food boxes and hot pizzas to the residents of the factory.

In late April, our partners visited Berezovo, Ukraine, which is only 15 km from the frontlines. That area of the country experiences daily shelling episodes. Bombings have destroyed their school and cultural center, and many stores and businesses have closed, leaving residents almost completely reliant on volunteer organizations to bring them food and supplies. There are often power outages due to the attacks, and families spend most of their time in their basements for safety.

Around 500 families used to reside in Berezovo. Now only 150 remain. Our team brought in 150 food boxes to feed those families for about a month, along with 300 blankets.

Yevtushenko reports that an old man in that area told her, “Yesterday, I was sitting on a bench near the yard, and a rocket was flying over me.” This has become a daily occurrence and barely one the people are even frightened of anymore, although the threat is still very real.

We will continue to focus on providing food and supplies to people living near the frontlines, people in rural areas where supply-chain issues are most prevalent, and those most in need. We appreciate your continued support in this endeavor. Please donate today to keep making a difference!