Rotary is an international voluntary club organization that brings together 1.2 million leaders who call themselves Rotarians and solve various problems, unite people and act to create lasting positive change.
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For more than 115 years, they have been uniting cultures and connecting continents to work together for peace, fight illiteracy and poverty, provide clean water and eradicate the disease. Since April 2022, the organization has been directing its efforts on helping forcibly displaced people
As part of the “Shelter Ukraine” initiative, we and “Rotary Club Kyiv International” equipped a shelter in the Poltava region. Beds, blankets, mattresses, pillows, a refrigerator, a stove, a microwave, a washing machine and dining tables were purchased with the help of charity funds. Now the equipped room will shelter 98 forcibly displaced Ukrainians from Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk regions!
“For 40 days, we were staying in the cellar of our house and then decided to go. We thought we would stay here while the house stands, but then it became impossible. When it hits somewhere nearby, it's very difficult, therefore we decided to go. When we came here, to this place, we were greeted so well, people hugged us and gave us everything. We are so grateful to them. For the first three or four days, we were looking at these surroundings, we were so grateful and were constantly crying out of joy that we were here, and not under the bombs.
We came here together: my husband, daughter, son-in-law and his mother. And also a dog and a cat. At first, we went without Zhuchok (our dog), but the next day my son-in-law and daughter went and took Zhuchok, despite everything. We were sorry to leave him. We are all alive and we never leave our nearest and dearest, not even Zhuchok.
Here, in the shelter, we have everything divided. We are all busy with something. There is a group of those who clean here. We call them a "cleaning company" (laughs). And others work in the kitchen. We cook for everyone, so it takes almost a whole day. We are not roaming here (laughs)” says Tetiana, who came from the Kharkiv region and received help from the Shelter Ukraine in Poltava region.