In order to organize and coordinate humanitarian aid for the needy in the best possible way, the archdiocese’s crisis committee in Ivano-Frankivsk has been active since the beginning of the war. One of his commitments is organizing and delivering humanitarian aid to combat zones.
Since the beginning of the war, more than 130 tons of relief supplies have been brought to an archdiocesan distribution center by our benefactors from abroad as well as by the parishes of the Archdiocese of Ivano-Frankivsk.
“Most of the time it’s natural products, various packaged foods, canned goods and other things for long-term storage. In addition, we receive medicines, clothing, hygiene items, especially for small children. People give us what they can, especially what the need now,” – said the volunteer, Rev. Pavlo Wira (26). According to him, humanitarian aid has already been delivered to Kharkiv, Sumy, Kyiv and Donetsk by trucks and trains.
“Our priests from different parishes and various organizations are sending us relief supplies from abroad. After our volunteers have sorted it, we send it to where it is needed. In particular, we recently sent help to Kharkiv through the youth association “Plast”. 20 tons went to Sumy by railway. The whole truck was sent to Ochertyn, Avdiivka, Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region,” – the volunteer said.
In addition, part of the aid, which is carefully sorted and checked, is distributed to the internally displaced persons living today in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. Food and necessary clothing are delivered to those people on a daily basis. Depending on the workload, 15 to 30 volunteers work every day to ensure that the distribution point works optimally.
“Thank God we really have a lot of good volunteers. We coordinate through a volunteer group on one of the social networks. Many of our volunteers are internally displaced persons living in Ivano-Frankivsk. We also have young people, students, children, university professors and priests with their families among the volunteers,” – said Natalia Smal (25), a volunteer from the archdiocesan crisis committee.
Such an initiative is possible thanks to the support of both our benefactors from abroad and the parishes of the Archdiocese of Ivano-Frankivsk, who support this social project.
