UKRAINE

Ukraine Fundraising

ICUUW Executive Director and Providence Volunteer Zsófia Sztranyiczki with Providence President Rev. Lásló (on the right) and War Refugee and Providence Volunteer Vladimir Skalski (on the left)
ICUUW Executive Director and Providence Volunteer Zsófia Sztranyiczki with Providence President Rev. Lásló (on the right) and War Refugee and Providence Volunteer Vladimir Skalski (on the left)

A week after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, ICUUW launched a large-scale fundraising effort to supply immediate assistance to families fleeing the war in Ukraine, in partnership with Gondviselés Segélyszervezet (in English: Providence Charity Organization), the charity arm of the Hungarian Unitarian Church. Thanks to over 480 ICUUW members, individual donors, UU congregations and organizations, ICUUW has sent $112,075 in support of Gondviselés's vital work for Ukrainian war refugees.

Since the onset of the war, Gondviselés has delivered 21 aid shipments to Ukraine: nine (9) to southern Ukraine (Odesa and Mykolaiv area), mainly consisting of medical supplies, generators, and medications, and twelve (12) to Transcarpathia (southwest Ukraine), mainly consisting of non-perishable food, raincoats, rubber boots, flashlights, headlamps, disinfectants, as well as cleaning and sanitary supplies. The Diaconal Center of the Transcarpathian Reformed (Calvinist) Church used part of the donations received for the internally displaced people that they are housing in the area, and the remainder were sent on to the regions ravaged by the war in eastern Ukraine.

Please read several detailed reports about Providence's response to the needs of those displaced in the war.

A highlights of Gondviselés's work was the launch of a kindergarten class for 22 Ukrainian refugee children in April 2022, and an elementary class in June 2022. By creating an elementary class, Gondviselés filled a critical void not provided by the Romanian government: 22 school-age children were learning to read and write in Ukrainian Cyrillic, in accordance with the national curriculum of Ukraine. Learning to read and write in Ukrainian will help these refugee children integrate seamlessly into the Ukrainian school system once the war is over. Please read more about both educational programs: Supporting the Education of Ukrainian Refugee Children in Kolozsvár/Cluj

Thanks to the generous donations of Unitarian Universalist siblings-in-faith and other donors from Romania and Hungary, the total amount that Gondviselés has spent on various humanitarian and educational activities to support Ukrainian refugees and those internally displaced - from February 2022 to August 2024 - reached $340,500 USD.