Crossroads’ Ukrainian partner has, for many years, been working to bridge the gap between rapidly developing cities and rural communities that are among the poorest in Europe. Before the Ukraine conflict began last year, we sent multiple shipments of items including hospital beds and equipment, school furniture, computers and electrical appliances that have been much used and well cared for.

Since the conflict began however, needs have changed as villages in the west of the country find themselves hosting large numbers of internally displaced people – mostly the elderly, women and children – in whatever rooms they can find. Spare classrooms, barns and clinic waiting rooms are all pressed into service in communities which scarcely have enough resources for their own people. We are delighted to be able to assist our partners by sending a second container of household furniture, bedding, clothes, and toys to benefit both the original village inhabitants and the many displaced people now sharing their space.

What has encouraged us most is your efforts to make this container possible in such difficult times for us. –NGO worker

After days of sleeping in open fields or on basement floors in bombed-out buildings, this mother and son delights at having a real room, bed, mattress and covers!

This shipment will contain many more such household necessities to help villages with few resources host their countrymen who have escaped from war-torn areas.

Vanya’s story

For an autistic child like 7-year-old Vanya (above), the disruption of routine involved in being forced out of one’s home and into a succession of strange places is even more traumatic than it is for neurotypical children and frequently results in sensory overload and meltdowns.  His mother reported that the play-doh set he received from our previous shipment has led him to become much calmer as he enjoys the texture, colours and being able to model little figures.

Below, an all-too-common scene for our partners as they drive through villages previously occupied or bombed.

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