Care4Ukraine.Org

We’re raising 50,000 PLN ($13,500) until 07/18/2026 for Care4Ukraine.Org - Supporting Childrens Education &Health.

Your donations will go directly to helping children and families impacted by war and poverty. Donations translate to immediate help.

Most of our supplies are purchased in Poland (PLN), as well as where most of our food and hygiene donations are gathered for transport into Ukraine. Can you help?
https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/9q9GnnsWOe

www.paypal.com

I first entered Ukraine in 2014, during the Maidan Revolution. I arrived in a country going through yet another major transition since gaining independence in 1991.

That was more than a decade ago, and Ukraine has remained a significant part of my life - the place where I live.

Ukraine is a poor country, although that poverty is not always obvious when visiting Kyiv or some of the other major cities. Like much of the world, Ukraine has enormous inequality. A remarkable amount of wealth, property, political influence, and economic control has remained concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number of people. Outside that circle are millions of ordinary Ukrainians who have very little influence over the decisions that shape their lives.

This inequality is particularly visible in the rural areas of eastern and northeastern Ukraine. Many villages were struggling long before the full-scale invasion began in 2022. Employment was limited, medical care was difficult to obtain, schools lacked resources, and older people often survived on very small pensions. The war did not create all of these problems, but it made nearly every one of them worse.

Care4Ukraine.org is a small humanitarian aid organization. Our work has always been directed toward people who are easily overlooked: children and young adults, internally displaced people, poor rural families, older people, and those who cannot simply pack their belongings and move somewhere safer.

Our job was easier when USAID was active and available to support humanitarian, medical, and educational efforts in Ukraine.

USAID did not directly fund everything we did, and no large organization ever reaches everyone. Its presence, however, helped create a much broader network of assistance. It supported schools, clinics, local organizations, community programs, medical projects, and groups helping displaced people. It also helped provide materials, equipment, training, and funding that smaller organizations could use or build upon.

With USAID no longer available in the way it once was, a large part of that support system has disappeared. The loss is not always visible from outside Ukraine, but it is clearly felt on the ground. Supplies are more difficult to obtain, educational and medical programs have been reduced, and smaller organizations are now expected to cover needs that were once supported by much larger international programs.

There are still international aid groups working in Ukraine, and many of them do important work. The problem is that most large organizations naturally concentrate their operations in major cities, regional centers, and areas where they can serve large numbers of people efficiently.

From an organizational point of view, that makes sense. However, it also leaves many rural communities with very little help.

The people living in small villages near the front are often among the poorest, oldest, and least mobile members of the population. Many remain because they have nowhere else to go. Their homes, animals, gardens, and small pieces of land may be everything they own. Leaving does not simply mean changing addresses. It may mean abandoning their only source of food, security, and personal identity.

The Ukrainian government also has aid programs, but they are too few and consistently underfunded. In some areas, government assistance exists on paper but is extremely difficult to access. In other places, local officials are overwhelmed and have almost no resources to distribute. Sometimes the programs arrive late. Sometimes they provide only a small portion of what is needed. Sometimes they are simply absent.

Ukraine receives a great deal of international aid, but much of that assistance does not filter down to the general population in any substantial way.

It could reasonably be argued that much of the aid being sent to Ukraine is not intended primarily to help Ukrainians live. It is intended to help Ukrainians fight Russians. That military assistance may be necessary, but it should not be confused with humanitarian assistance.

A missile defense system does not heat an elderly woman’s house. An armored vehicle does not purchase medicine for a pensioner. Artillery ammunition does not repair a damaged roof, provide school materials to a displaced child, or deliver food to an isolated village.

In the first days of the 2022 invasion, Ukraine already had intelligence, preparation, and the ability to resist thousands of Russian armored vehicles. Among volunteers, there was sometimes a dark joke that whenever the Ukrainians carried out a particularly effective operation, there was always a man in dark glasses, who only spoke English, standing somewhere nearby and watching.

That is simply part of the nature of modern war. Governments support governments. Militaries support militaries. Intelligence services support military operations.

Meanwhile, ordinary people still need food, medicine, heat, transportation, education, and a safe place to sleep.

You do not read as much about Ukraine in the newspapers anymore. It no longer dominates television news as it did in 2022. That does not mean the war has become quieter or less dangerous.

In many civilian regions, the war is now more active and more intrusive than at any time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Drones, missiles, damaged infrastructure, blackouts, displacement, and constant economic pressure have become part of daily life. Communities that once felt relatively removed from the fighting now face regular danger.

Care4Ukraine.org continues to work in the places where assistance is limited, particularly in rural communities in eastern Ukraine. We help where we can, with what we have. That may mean educational support for children, medical supplies, food, heating materials, home repairs, emergency transportation, or simply helping a family through the next few difficult weeks.

We are not a large organization, and we cannot solve the enormous problems facing Ukraine. But we can reach people who might otherwise receive nothing.

If you would like to help us continue this effort, your support would be sincerely welcomed. Even a modest contribution can make a real difference to a child, an older person, a displaced family, or someone living in a rural community that larger organizations and government programs have failed to reach.

You can donate with PayPal: [email protected]

Ukraine may no longer dominate the headlines, but the need has not disappeared. In many places, it has only become greater.

Joseph Nichols
Care4Ukraine.Org

As Ukraine fights off Russia's invasion, some regions see a rise in premature births A rising number of babies are being born prematurely in Ukraine, particularly in regions near the front lines.

It's hard to see most of the drones, they sometimes appear as a just a bird until they are too close to evade.

The most recent attack delayed some aid supplies we planned to deliver over the next few days. We will need to purchase them locally (Lviv).

If anyone can help out it would mean a lot to number of families in the east.
Donations can be made on PayPal at:

[email protected]

Thank you.
Elena

The number of killed and wounded continues to rise. See article in the previous post.

Another countrywide attack on population centers-

Russian attacks kill at least five and injure dozens across Ukraine Russian air strikes hit several major Ukrainian cities early on Tuesday, killing at least five people and injuring dozens as officials warned of a possible wider assault. Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv were…

An excellent perspective....

Ukraine's human capital crisis is Europe's threat During a recent visit to a newly opened underground school in a front-line town, I spoke with the children once again. What is particularly striking is that they usually talk about how happy they are to finally return to classrooms. Some of them are experiencing in-person schooling for the very firs...

Please read our perspective on our GoFundMe fundraiser and the text of an email we received. Our account is being reviewed as they believe we might be violating U.S. law regarding sanctions.

A very rough night.

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