15.10.2014, Ivano-Frankivsk region
Caritas Ivano-Frankivsk and other 8 specialized centers in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Lviv, Kolomyia, Novovolynsk, Drohobych and Sokal continue to take care of low-income IDPs from Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. Nearly 3000 people have been receiving help from Caritas organizations since May. With the beginning of cold season more and more families with kids ask to buy warm clothes and shoes for them.
That’s why Caritas Ivano-Frankivsk of the UGCC recently found out and implemented assistance that amounted to 42,050 UAH. First of all, help was rendered to large and single-parent IDP families: with financial support of International Organization on Migration it became possible to buy new clothes and shoes for 58 children from Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
“We are really grateful to our benefactors and also Caritas employees who focus their work on assistance to IDPs. Winter is coming, and these people left their homes without getting ready for a long trip. The majority didn’t expect to leave own houses for such a long time. And it is worth mentioning that nobody knows how long such situation will last.
That’s why we are doing our best to help people in going through such a difficult period, when they were forced to leave own homes. Today we can hear different thoughts about IDPs, but regardless all these things, any person has to give, assist and make other people happier. It won’t be left without attention,” says Fr. Volodymyr Chorniy, director of Caritas Ivano-Frankivsk.
Elvira who left her home in Simferopol and went to Ivano-Frankivsk with a husband and 4 kids notes that they were getting for the trip in a quick manner. At that moment, in spring, they weren’t thinking of warm clothes, because they hoped to come back soon. “Now we understand that we won’t be able to go home in the near future. We are grateful to Caritas that helps us with food and nutrition for children. When our daughter was taken to the hospital for a surgery, we were assisted with medicines. This time we got warm clothes and shoes. My husband was hired as a driver on a food plant, his salary is not high and we spend it all for rent of our flat and to get kids dressed. That’s why it is incredibly complicated to get by with own means,” retells IDP woman from Crimea.
Caritas Ukraine’s approach to care for the displaced is personalized and foresees scrupulous evaluation of their needs. Attention is focused at the most needful: first of all, there are pregnant women, large families and families with physically/mentally challenged and elderly people. Caritas workers don’t duplicate assistance that is provided by other organizations, services and initiatives, on the contrary, we coordinate our efforts to render the most efficient help to the displaced. Our goal is to assist every person in finding ways to set up own home in new conditions.
During the last half a year local Caritas provides IDPs with food packages (including special meals for kids) and hygiene kits, partly covers expenses for housing if they are in crisis situation; families with children received school supplies. And what is the most important is search for resources to purchase warm clothes and shoes.
Therefore, Caritas of Ivano-Frankivsk of the UGCC asks for material and financial support everyone who has a possibility to help. Please, use the following contacts:
Kryhivetska Str. 102, Kryhivtsi village, 76000, Ivano-Frankivsk,
tel.: +38 (0342) 77 99 89, e-mail: caritas-ivano-frankivsk@ukr.net
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