The aged, but well-kept blue house of pensioner Mariia is awash in bright, colorful flowers. Here, in the small town of Horodnia in Chernihivska Oblast near the border with Belarus, the woman has spent her entire life. She now lives alone and rarely leaves her home. Employees of the local social service bring her groceries and help with household chores. It was they who told Mariia about the opportunity to receive help from our Foundation and registered her to receive fuel briquettes.
“I started preparing for winter back in June, setting aside money from my small pension of 4,000 hryvnias, and bought firewood twice. When my husband was alive, we used gas for heating, but when I was left alone, it became too expensive for me, and I switched to firewood,” the woman says.
Recently, the team of the Lifesaving: Protection, Shelter, and WASH for War-Affected Regions project came to Mariia with assistance: the woman received over three tons of fuel briquettes.
“God bless everyone who does such good deeds. It was pouring rain, but your workers carried the briquettes themselves and neatly stacked them in my garage. Yesterday I decided to check how they burn — I fired up the boiler, put in one briquette, and the radiators are still warm today. These briquettes will last me the whole winter,” the woman rejoices.
Residents of war-affected communities in Chernihivska Oblast will continue to receive such assistance: the project aims to provide fuel briquettes to 705 households.
According to the foundation’s regional coordinator in Chernihivska Oblast, Tetiana Puchkova, many elderly people live in the region’s frontline communities, often with no one to care for them.
“A month into the implementation of this project in our oblast, we can already see how valuable it is for people to have the opportunity to receive fuel briquettes, especially when the electricity supply is unstable and there isn’t enough money for even the most basic necessities. For all Ukrainians, winter during the war is very difficult, and for residents of frontline communities, it is even more so. For most, it is a real ordeal. That is why we deliver briquettes almost every day so that people can get through the winter in warmth,” notes Tetiana Puchkova.
The project is implemented by the Charity Foundation “Stabilization Support Services” in partnership with the charitable organization Malteser International with the support of Aktion Deutschland Hilft.