A Year of Shared Care: EAST SOS and Volunteer-68 Humanitarian Aid Center Implemented a Comprehensive Support Project for Evacuees
For a year, EAST SOS, together with the Volunteer-68 Humanitarian Aid Center, worked together on a joint project providing comprehensive support and protection for evacuees, with financial support from the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF).
As part of the project, the Bez Mezh transit collective site in Kharkiv continued its work. Over this period, the facility provided temporary accommodation for 187 evacuated older people and people with disabilities. There, they received round-the-clock care, meals, and dignified living conditions while the team looked for further accommodation for them.
The subgrant provided to the Volunteer-68 Humanitarian Aid Center amounted to UAH 5,549,688. It covered operational expenses, including social worker services, rent and utility payments, as well as hygiene kits, detergents, and bed linen for the shelter.
In addition, EAST SOS allocated UAH 560,767 to equip a new temporary home for people with limited mobility and their families. The partners plan to open it at the end of June 2026. It will become another space where people who have been forced to leave their homes can receive shelter, care, and support. To equip the first floor of the collective site, functional beds, two-section mattresses with waterproof covers, bed linen sets, blankets, bedside tables, chests of drawers, wardrobes, tables, and chairs were purchased and delivered.
The shelter also received household appliances, including a refrigerator, washing and drying machines, a microwave oven, electric kettles, a thermopot, a TV, an air curtain, a boiler, and radiators for heating the premises. Medical IV stands, quartz lamps, cleaning supplies, and plastic containers were also delivered.
In addition, we organized a first aid instructor course for the team.
“At every stage of the project, we worked in close partnership with the Volunteer-68 team. Together, we discussed the needs of people in collective sites, looked for the best solutions for procurement and space arrangement, coordinated financial and organizational processes, and supported the project’s communication component, including the preparation of reporting posts for social media. Moreover, the foundation’s monitoring and evaluation department conducted training on cluster reporting. After the project ended, we carried out a monitoring visit and prepared a final report to make sure the support was useful, relevant, and met people’s real needs,” said Maiia Kuzmina, Board Member of EAST SOS.
We are sincerely glad to partner with the Volunteer-68 Humanitarian Aid Center, which has expertise in supporting people with limited mobility who, after evacuation, need care, continuous assistance, and dignified living conditions.
Three years ago, EASR SOS fully equipped the Bez Mezh transit collective site with everything necessary for residents’ comfortable and safe stay.
The assistance was provided within the project “Integrated Comprehensive Support and Protection for Vulnerable Evacuees,” implemented by EAST SOS together with the Volunteer-68 Humanitarian Aid Center, with financial support from the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF).
