Category: Civil Society

On the eve of the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Victor Hetmanczuk, Chair of the Board of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF), and Alexandra Chyczij, the National President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), held a press conference in Toronto reporting on the $52 million raised through the CUF-UCC joint Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal and the $26 million already deployed in the essential humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

They were joined by Her Excellency, Yulia Kovaliv, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada, who expressed her deep gratitude for the help and support of Ukrainian people provided by Canadians over the last year, and also, by Rahul Singh, the Executive Director of GlobalMedic, one of CUF’s partners in delivering food and hygiene kits to Ukraine.

KEY FACTS:

• The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal is a joint effort of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF) and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC). For over a year, the two organizations have been working together to efficiently and cost-effectively deliver crucial humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians suffering in the brutal and unprovoked war.

• Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on February 24th, 2022 – the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal has raised over $52 million from 72,000 donors across Canada.

• Primary focus of the humanitarian relief efforts was in the area of food security, medical care, and emergency shelter for displaced persons in Ukraine and in the neighbouring countries.

Since February 2022, the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal has delivered:

• 300 thousand boxes of food providing meals to 850,000 people in Ukraine, Moldova and Romania
• 53 MT of medicines reaching 790,500 patients
• 161 generators for hospitals, surviving families of Ukrainian armed forces personnel killed in action, and in support of Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy
• 2,000 stoves for cooking and heating homes in recently liberated areas
• 2,000 wooden beds, mattresses, duvets, pillows and bedding for the displaced persons
• 1,000 sets of firefighting gear, 10,000 gloves specialized for the first responders
• $1.2M in psychological assistance for civilians
• 2 surgical missions who operated on 44 patients with severe craniofacial injuries, totalling 106 procedures
• 20 Vacuum-Assisted Closure (VAC) machines for wound infection treatment in hospitals in Western Ukraine plus consumables
• 11 Toyota ambulances for Ukraine’s Ministry of Health
• 3 Humanitarian Demining Robots
• 1,000 pallets of cleaning supplies to displaced persons
• 330 pallets of PPE to hospitals

According to UNICEF estimates, by the end of 2022, a total of 17.7 million people in Ukraine were in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, including 3.4 million children. Currently, 5.9 million internally displaced persons are registered in Ukraine.

QUOTATIONS:

• “Ukrainians are severely affected by Russian aggression. Russia has destroyed almost 50% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and most Ukrainians do not have access to basics, such as electricity, water, and heat. We are very grateful to CUF and UCC for delivering the generators with light masts for our teams of electricians, who can now efficiently repair the grid and restore the electricity, as well as the generators for hospitals and veterans’ families. More than 45,000 residential areas have been destroyed in Ukraine, with hundreds of thousands of people unable to return to their homes. CUF-UCC help set up temporary shelters by supplying the necessities, beds and mattresses, food and medical supplies, as well as sponsoring psychological support programs for Ukrainians. On behalf of the Ukrainian people, I want to thank you for your support and ask you to continue standing with Ukraine until our common victory”, – Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada, Yulia Kovaliv.

• “The Ukrainian Canadian community has been working non-stop to support our sisters and brothers in Ukraine in their heroic defence of their homeland from Russia`s genocidal war of aggression. Our community is immensely grateful to all Canadians for their steadfast, generous support of the Ukrainian people in their time of need.” – Alexandra Chyczij, National President, Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

• “This year, more than ever, we are grateful to those who founded Canada-Ukraine Foundation in 1995, and to all those who have built its strong foundation, nurtured the relations both, here, in Canada, and in Ukraine, and kept the organization effective and efficient, so that when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24^th – we were there within a few days with the first tranche of humanitarian aid. Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal became the fund of choice to all across Canada, who wanted to support the humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine.” – Victor Hetmanczuk, Chair of the Board of Directors, Canada-Ukraine Foundation.

• This ugly war in Ukraine has displaced over 16 million people. Brutal attacks on civilian infrastructure have damaged electrical grids and knocked out water purification facilities. One in three household are food insecure. People are hungry and need clean water. I am proud of our partnership with CUF. They have rallied the community to raise awareness and funds to help vulnerable families in need. With their support we have reached families in desperate need with life-saving humanitarian assistance. This war rages on and it is getting uglier. We must redouble our efforts to keep helping families in need.” – Rahul Singh, Executive Director, GlobalMedic.

Before the full-scale invasion on February 24th, Ukraine had been shipping buckwheat to various customers in Europe and Asia. Now, with Russia’s continuous shelling of Ukraine’s grain fields and its occupation of some of Ukraine’s agricultural land, a large percentage of Ukraine’s expected harvest is being destroyed. In response to these dire developments, the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada asked the Canada-Ukraine Foundation to purchase and ship the Canadian buckwheat seeds to Ukraine since their resources are limited. FYK Soba Inc. in Manitoba, a specialist in the production of premium buckwheat, generously redirected 140 metric tons of buckwheat seeds to aid Ukraine. Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal then purchased and made arrangements to transport 7 containers by sea to Germany and then on to Ukraine.

Despite the late delivery of buckwheat seeds and the fact that sowing took place only last month, a wide distribution of farmers throughout Ukraine already see initial results – buckwheat seeds have started germinating across Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytsk, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions. Overall, 70 farmers in Ukraine partook in sowing this Canadian buckwheat and the expected yield is 3,000 m/t of processed buckwheat groats. This shipment of buckwheat seeds came with personalized care from Don Fyk, the president of FYK Soba Inc., who was in direct contact with Serhiy Hromovyi, the Executive Director of the International Buckwheat Association of Ukraine, about the type of seeds being shipped and the proper care they require to give the highest yield – a true Canadian-Ukrainian partnership.

Thanks to your generous support and commitment, Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal is able to continue its critical mission of providing aid and assistance to Ukraine, including this effort to enable farmers in Ukraine do what they do best – grow the grain they know.

Background

The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal has been established jointly by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) and the Canada Ukraine Foundation (CUF) to formalize a coordinated approach in providing humanitarian assistance quickly and efficiently to those in need in Ukraine to address any further aggression by Russia. The main efforts of cooperation are to provide humanitarian assistance/relief in the areas of assistance to displaced persons, medical care, emergency shelter and food security.

As Russia’s genocidal war of aggression against Ukraine continues, and countless Ukrainian families are forced to leave their homes and seek safety all over the world, the number of Ukrainians arriving in Canada grows each day.

To help newly-arrived families adjust to life in Canada, the UCC-CUF Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal announced the Ukrainian Canadian Summer Camps Program for displaced Ukrainian children. These camps provide a great opportunity for children displaced by the war to experience a true Ukrainian Canadian summer and provide their families with a relative sense of stability.

The Ukrainian Canadian Summer Camp Program helps cover the cost of attending summer camps run by Ukrainian Canadian organizations this summer. The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal provides up to . $350 per child per week to, for a maximum of 2 weeks. This program is an immense success, with almost 2,000 children already participating in 32 summer camps across Canada, through almost $1 million funding support from the Humanitarian Appeal.

Additionally, the UCC-CUF Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal helped sponsor a Plast summer camp in Poland, which hosted refugees from Russia’s war against Ukraine.. Some of the youngest victims of Russia’s war were able to receive respite from the war and companionship with their peers.

The Ukrainian Canadian summer camp program was made possible by the amazing volunteers and counsellors that gave their time to create and oversee fun, safe, and enjoyable program for displaced children. As so many children are attending these summer camps, many of our organizations are looking for additional volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering for a Ukrainian Canadian summer camp near you, please visit this link. The Plast summer camp in Poland is especially seeking additional volunteers to assist in the delivery of its program. The UCC-CUF Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal will be sponsoring volunteers to travel to Poland and work as counsellors in these camps. Please visit this link to learn more.

The funding of these amazing summer camps was made possible through the generous contributions of our many donors. Please consider making a donation to send many more displaced children to camp. Your donation is needed to help support this important community project!

Please donate to the appeal today to support millions of Ukrainian families who have been displaced from their homes. #HelpUkraineNow

Your donation is needed to help support this important community project!

Donations in support of humanitarian relief can be made through:

www.cufoundation.ca

Email: [email protected]

Background

The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal has been established jointly by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Canada Ukraine Foundation to formalize a coordinated approach in providing humanitarian assistance quickly and efficiently to those in need in Ukraine to address any further aggression by Russia. The main efforts of cooperation are to provide humanitarian assistance/relief in the areas of Assistance to displaced persons, Medical care, Emergency Shelter and Food security. 

THE CANADA-UKRAINE FOUNDATION HAS PURCHASED THROUGH MEEST MORE THAN 30,000 KILOGRAMS OF HUMANITARIAN AID FOR UKRAINE.

The aid comes in the form of food boxes, with each containing enough food for a month.

According to the United Nations, 15.7 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian aid. The war has forced over 14 million people to abandon their homes: 7 million have fled to neighbouring countries, and another 8 million have become internally displaced persons. Today, about 13 million people are living in Ukraine’s most devastated regions and often don’t have access to essential goods.

Thanks to the support of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation in partnership with the Olena Zelenska fund, the MEEST shipping and logistics corporation was able to ship 31 000 kilograms of food to recently liberated territory in the form of humanitarian food kits. These kits were assembled with the professional guidance of doctors and dietitians.

The adult food kits included a variety of high energy foods which are rich in carbohydrates, supplemented with other sources of protein and fat. These kits can feed an adult for the duration of a month. The child kits were assembled with consideration for children’s dietary needs and taste preferences. The child kits were rich in carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and calcium. The set included semolina and corn grits, pasta, oatmeal, corn and chocolate flakes, milk powder, poultry pate, cream cheese, cookies, cocoa, crackers and fruit and herbal tea.

The Canada-Ukraine Foundation and its donors were instrumental in securing the materials needed to assemble these food kits. The fund of First Lady Olena Zelenska was responsible for the distribution of these food kits to Ukraine’s most devastated regions and other charitable organizations. The MEEST Corporation carried out the purchase of products, their completion in sets, packaging and delivery to Ukraine.

Victor Hetmanczuk, Chair of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation

Due to Russia’s continued assaults on Ukrainian cities the need for humanitarian aid only grows. For large corporations that wish to help Ukrainians, in my opinion, it is crucial to not only maintain, but to expand their humanitarian support. The second important task for all of us at the current time is to spread awareness about the continuing war in Ukraine through any means possible, as the world cannot grow numb to the genocide that is currently taking place in the center of Europe. 

Please donate to the appeal today to support millions of Ukrainian families who have been displaced from their homes. #HelpUkraineNow

Your donation is needed to help support this important community project!

Donations in support of humanitarian relief can be made through:

www.cufoundation.ca

Email: [email protected]

Background

The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal has been established jointly by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Canada Ukraine Foundation to formalize a coordinated approach in providing humanitarian assistance quickly and efficiently to those in need in Ukraine to address any further aggression by Russia. The main efforts of cooperation are to provide humanitarian assistance/relief in the areas of Assistance to displaced persons, Medical care, Emergency Shelter and Food security. 

The Ukrainian people continue their heroic defence of their homeland from Russia’s genocidal war. The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is critical and the needs are immense. Thanks to your generous support and commitment the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal is able to deliver aid and assistance– both in Ukraine and to Ukrainians who have sought refuge in bordering countries.

CUF continues to assist the currently strained healthcare sector in Ukraine, at the same time rapidly aligning our partner linkages for an impactful result. One such successful project started when Orest Sushko at Humber College in Toronto reached out to us, having recognized that a substantial quantity of a medical product could be made available for Ukraine: namely, high-quality syringes that were in supply on campus. “Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and now with the war in Ukraine, Humber has worked with our community partners to provide assistance whenever we could,” said Tyler Charlebois, Director, Centres of Innovation Network and Partnership Development, Humber College. “We are so pleased that more than 165,000 unused syringes left over from our COVID-19 vaccination clinics were able to be shipped to Ukraine to provide some medical supply relief during the humanitarian crisis happening there.” 

Generous donations of life-saving equipment were collected from the Montfort Hospital, Queensway Carleton Hospital, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Brockville General Hospital, the Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Healthcare Linen Services.

The collection of donations from hospitals was led by Dr. Tetyana Rogalska, and CUF funded the logistics costs of the movement to Ukraine.

“This lifesaving equipment is in addition to the previous 60 pallets over the past 2 months. We are actively seeking additional donations from hospitals and suppliers across Canada,” said Victor Hetmanczuk, Chair of the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Committee.

Due to security issues, CUF will not identify the receiving locations institutions in Ukraine. Please donate to the appeal today to support millions of Ukrainian families who have been displaced from their homes. #HelpUkraineNow

Your donation is needed to help support this important community project!

Donations in support of humanitarian relief can be made through:

www.cufoundation.ca

Email: [email protected]

Background

The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal has been established jointly by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Canada Ukraine Foundation to formalize a coordinated approach in providing humanitarian assistance quickly and efficiently to those in need in Ukraine to address any further aggression by Russia. The main efforts of cooperation are to provide humanitarian assistance/relief in the areas of Assistance to displaced persons, Medical care, Emergency Shelter and Food security. 

The Ukrainian people continue their heroic defense of their homeland from Russia’s genocidal war. The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is critical and the needs are immense. Thanks to your generous support and commitment the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal is able to deliver aid and assistance– both in Ukraine and to Ukrainians who have sought refuge in bordering countries.

The Association Internationale de Cooperation Medicale Ukraine is delivering crucial relief to some of the areas of Ukraine hardest-hit by Russia’s war, providing medicine, food, hygiene kits, blankets, dignity kits, diapers and specialized food for children and the elderly.

With the support of the CUF/UCC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal and other organizations such as the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America and other partners, every week AICM reaches 25,000 Internally Displaced Persons, and 50,000 vulnerable residents in cities and towns recently liberated by the Ukrainian army from Russian occupation. 

Donations in support of humanitarian relief can be made through:

www.cufoundation.ca

or by cheque to: 620 Spadina Ave, Suite 200, Toronto, ON, M5S 2H4

For further information: [email protected]

Background

The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, established by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) and the Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF) is working with Ukrainian government ministries, who are in the best position to advise on the needs on the ground so that we can ensure that the donations we receive meet the needs of the Ukrainian people. The appeal will work with established partners on the ground who have demonstrated the ability to deliver aid in a timely and effective manner. The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Committee is established jointly by the two organizations to formalize a coordinated approach in providing humanitarian assistance quickly and efficiently to those in need in Ukraine to address any further aggression by Russia. The committee will work with the Ukrainian Canadian community across Canada to reduce duplication of effort, increase efficiency and ensure aid efforts have the most effective impact for Ukrainian citizens affected by the crisis.

It has been two months since Russia launched a full-out invasion of Ukraine, bombing Ukrainian cities and towns, targeting civilians and committing war crimes and crimes against humanity on a massive scale.

Earlier this week, Canada’s House of Commons unanimously recognized Russia’s actions acts of genocide against the Ukrainian people

The Ukrainian people are heroically defending their homeland from Russia’s war, but the humanitarian situation is critical and the needs immense. Thanks to your generous support and commitment the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal is able to deliver aid and assistance– both in Ukraine and to Ukrainians who have sought refuge in bordering countries.

The Appeal has delivered millions of dollars in crucial aid that is helping people survive through partnerships and cooperation with more than a dozen organizations.

One such organization is the Ukrainian Deminers Association (UDA).The UDA has been a partner of CUF since mid 2021 and up until February 24 they were helping identify land mines for safe removal so that farmers might once again safely work their fields to provide food and a livelihood. The UDA’s adaptability in changing their scope to now deliver humanitarian aid demonstrates the value of CUF’s strong and dynamic working relationships with its partners on the ground who are able to respond quickly to the changing needs.

The Ukrainian Deminers Association is providing assistance to war-affected people in the oblasts of Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Chernihiv and Kharkiv oblasts. As of two weeks ago, thanks to support provided by the CUF, over 1300 people have been provided with assistance – food, medicine, hygiene products, building materials and money of up to UAH 1,500 per person. The UDA stated, “We continue working for the sake of Ukrainians and our victory! We truly thank our Ukrainian Canadians and concerned Canadian citizens!”

Donations in support of humanitarian relief can be made through:

www.cufoundation.ca

or by cheque to: 620 Spadina Ave, Suite 200, Toronto, ON, M5S 2H4

For further information: [email protected]

Background

The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, established by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) and the Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF) is working with Ukrainian government ministries, who are in the best position to advise on the needs on the ground so that we can ensure that the donations we receive meet the needs of the Ukrainian people. The appeal will work with established partners on the ground who have demonstrated the ability to deliver aid in a timely and effective manner. The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Committee is established jointly by the two organizations to formalize a coordinated approach in providing humanitarian assistance quickly and efficiently to those in need in Ukraine to address any further aggression by Russia. The committee will work with the Ukrainian Canadian community across Canada to reduce duplication of effort, increase efficiency and ensure aid efforts have the most effective impact for Ukrainian citizens affected by the crisis.