Helping tens of thousands of people in Ukraine and the Czech republic. we’ve already dispatched 7 trains and 13 trucks full of humanitarian aid

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• Delivering aid to war-torn towns and hard-to-reach areas
• Supporting tens of thousands of people in Ukraine with water, food and psychological support
• Operating a Ukrainian helpline in the Czech Republic
• Collaborating with local organizations and volunteers at Ukrainian borders

Over 3,500 pallets of aid have arrived in Ukraine (equivalent to 110 trucks)

4 960 000 EUR WORTH OF AID

Together with Regiojet and other partners in the Czech Republic, PIN has dispatched trains full of humanitarian aid three times each week. Seven trains with food and other necessary materials have already transported over 3,500 pallets (totalling 4 360 000 EUR) of aid to Ukraine. Such large deliveries of aid are made possible thanks to a combination of generous donations and significant discounts from suppliers.

"Czech aid is one of the largest, if not the largest, source of humanitarian aid that has been delivered to Ukraine or is on its way. It is easy to ask if this aid amounts to very much, as large numbers often sound abstract. For this reason, I’ve tried to divide the total amount of food that we are donating into an average purchase that I might take home once or twice a week to feed my family. It turns out that our deliveries make up about 150-200 thousand purchases like this. Basically, this is enough for one family to eat for a few days. Of course, we are working hard to deliver even more aid to the besieged cities,” says Šimon Pánek, Director of People in Need.

Together with our Ukrainian partners, People in Need has delivered trains loaded with hundreds of tonnes of food, sleeping bags, blankets, hygiene supplies, operating kits, and other essential items to Kiev and other harder-to-reach areas around the capital. Additional trains have been sent into Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Luhansk. This aid will be transported on to Slavyansk and Zaporozhye. Additionally, People in Need trucks are part of the first-ever convoy to Sumy, and if the humanitarian corridor opens, we will deliver aid to Mariupol. 

Helping in Ukraine, the Czech Republic and neighbouring countries

Date: Mar 29, 2022   Place: Ukraine, Czechia, neighbouring countries   Author: Člověk v tísni/People in Need   

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We've also sent 13 trucks with material worth 600 000 EUR to other affected areas. Non-perishable food, milk, baby food, medicine, and toilet paper are being transported to places where there is urgent demand. Very often people living in eastern Ukraine have no way to transport or store water. That´s the reason why we have convey water by truckload and by jerry can there In western Ukraine, we are delivering aid to Lviv and surrounding areas, as well as the Ivano-Frankivsk regions. "We are working very hard to deliver even more aid to besieged towns where people are suffering from hunger and dehydration," says Simon Pánek, Director of People in Need.

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We're helping tens of thousands of people in Ukraine

ADDITIONAL 840 000 EUR IN AID FUNDED BY THE CZECH REPUBLIC 

The 100-person, People in Need Ukraine team, is helping in the field in Ukraine. In the west, our team is coordinating aid from Lviv, and our team also works in Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporozhye, Dnipro and Chernivtsi.

Some towns and villages in eastern Ukraine are in ruins. PIN regularly supplies over 15,000 people with drinking water in areas where the war has damaged water mains, or where the water lines did not work properly even before the invasion. We provide water to nineteen cisterns in the vicinity of Uhledar and Ardievka, and we distribute six-liter jerry cans in other places where there is need. Villages and towns such as Sčastia, Stanytsia, Luhanska, and many others have been completely destroyed by shelling. The fighting has resulted in destruction of local water, electricity and gas supply lines. For this reason, we are delivering water, sanitary supplies, and food to shelters in these areas. In the regions of Chernivtsi and Donetsk, we are also distributing food rations and cash to the most vulnerable.

In western Ukraine we are supporting internally displaced people (IDPs), of whom there are more than two million in Ukraine and come from the areas most affected by the war. After the invasion, People in Need moved its main office to Lviv. Dozens of collective centers for IDPs are being set up in western Ukraine. The priority is to equip centers for IDPs outside densely populated cities in the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Transcarpathia regions.

We operate a free psychological support line throughout Ukraine with unlimited working hours seven days a week. Many of those waiting in collective centres today have experienced bombings, been forced to hide in shelters, had to say goodbye to loved ones, or witnessed violence and suffering. Trained psychologists are working in affected areas such as Bakhumut, Kramatorsk, or Slovyansk. So far, more than 600 people have benefited from their services. Our psychologists have also provided assistance to refugees from the besieged town of Volnovakha.

We are also supporting NGOs and volunteers in Ukraine. We have awarded forty grants for humanitarian and rescue operations to the local Red Cross, community and youth organizations, and other organizations and initiatives involved in helping people in Slovyansk, Svyatohirsk, Sievierodonetsk, Kiev, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipro and other places.

In the Czech Republic we are helping across the country

1 200 000 EUR WORTH OF AID

We are providing financial support to individuals in dozens of cities across the country. PIN is working in Regional Assistance Centers to help Ukrainians, and we are supporting dozens of other organizations and initiatives.

People in Need, as a member of the consortium of NGOs working with migrants, has collaborated on the launch of the virtual marketplace www.pomahejukrajine.cz, which serves as a place where the offer s of assistance to Ukrainians from the Czech public meets the demand from needs of Ukrainians.

Public housing policy and the lack of capacity in education and social services were disadvantageous for vulnerable people even before the war, and the challenge of taking care of the basic needs of refugees, women and children as vulnerable people affects society as a whole. PIN offers humanitarian relief experience in war, refugee crises and post-disaster reconstruction. We also have expertise in Czech education, social and employment policies within Czech Republic. We work to help with legislation and make realistic proposals for building a system that can cope with the reception and adaptation of hundreds of thousands of new arrivals precisely in the areas of housing, education and the labor market. For more information, we recommend Daniel Prokop’s analysis, created together with his colleagues and the help of People in Need.

Launching a Ukrainian helpline

Nine colleagues who are fluent in Czech and Ukrainian are currently assisting callers on our emergency helpline: 770 600 800. A further six team members are handling more complicated cases and arranging further assistance on the spot. Due to the surge of people needing assistance, we are continuing to strengthen and expand our teams. In addition to the refugees themselves, we also receive calls from Czechs seeking advice about how best to stand in solidarity with Ukrainians fleeing the war.

We provide:

• basic advice and orientation in the Czech social system,

• help with filling documents,
• assistance finding accommodation, transportation and food,
• human resources,
• organizational assistance,
• professional counseling for refugees,
• finding child care.

In the case of acute needs, fundraised money helps address issues that are not currently covered. The social allowance for refugees is long overdue, and housing solutions are stalled. We are looking for bridging solutions, supporting other needed services, counselling, interpreting, organizing direct material assistance.

We are very thankful that Ukrainians who have been living and working in the Czech Republic are joining our team. Their language skills help us to work quickly and efficiently.

Working with colleagues from other organisations

The counseling system for refugees in the Czech Republic is under enormous strain owing to Putin's war, and the social organizations involved are also working beyond capacity. So far we have distributed 880 000 EUR in one-off grants to help strengthen the capacity for humanitarian aid and social counseling. We have provided significant support to food banks, which are expending 70% of their supplies to help families fleeing war.

Supporting school children

Under COVID constraints, People in Need has developed new types of online educational support, tutoring, e-inclusion support, as well as providing direct educational support to children in need. We believe that some elements are easily adaptable to the current situation. We are preparing volunteers to engage in educational support when it becomes clear what systemic pathway the Department for Education will choose. At present, 119 teachers are undergoing crisis supervision to support them in working with children experiencing trauma. We are also finishing an online course on this topic, which will be open to all teachers and assistants. We are also providing schools and teachers with up-to-date resources for working with children and to reflect the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

• On a specially created subpage, The War in Ukraine, teachers can find a range of recommendations for talking to pupils about the war, refugees, media manipulation and war propaganda.

• We have prepared a set of appropriate audiovisual materials, methods and practical activities for situations in which teachers encounter pupils' concerns and challenging life situations,.
• We are planning to launch Studio JSNS in the near future - a regular programme for schools in which students and pupils will be able to ask questions about the war in Ukraine. A recording of the online debate, Ukraine War Week: what's happening and why, is already available.

We are helping refugees on the border and in neighboring countries

80 000 EUR WORTH OF AID

More than 3 million people have already fled war-torn Ukraine. In the immediate aftermath of the invasion, we sent teams to border crossings with Slovakia, Moldova, Romania, Poland and Hungary to survey needs on the ground, set up large-scale heated tents, set up portable toilets and serve hot drinks and food.

In Romania, our staff has met 30 representatives of cities, municipalities and NGOs. We have supported ten select organizations with a distribution of 48 000 EUR in grants.

In Moldova, we’ve supported eight NGOs involved in managing the refugee crisis with 44 000 EUR in grants. These organizations include AO AREAP, which cooks and distributes hot meals at five border crossings in the north of the country, and the Psychosocial Centre of Vulcănești/ Надежда Мокан, which coordinates a local network of volunteers and provides accommodation, transport, food and psychological support.

We have sent five vans full of aid, including medicine, to the Transcarpathian region, and we have financially supported the municipalities near the border crossings. In the next phase, together with People in Need Slovakia, we will focus on assistance in Transcarpathia, where a large number of internally displaced people and refugees are concentrated.

People in Need’s assistance to people in Ukraine is possible thanks to donations from the public and private sector to PIN Ukraine Emergency Appeal, financial contributions from Alliance2015, CARE, Stichting Vluchteling, Porticus, King Baudouin Foundation and partnership with European Union, Ukraine Humanitarian Fund, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic or World Food Programme.