Vyacheslav Bondar — Aid in Kharkiv
With 44 million people facing a crisis in Ukraine and thousands of people worldwide wanting to donate money and resources to help, it’s never been more important to ensure that these valuable donations go where they are needed most. Grace Tea partners exclusively with trusted friends and allies on the ground in Ukraine to ensure that 100% of every dollar donated goes directly to support those affected.
Our commitment to financial transparency ensures that donors are informed of exactly where their donations are going, to whom they are given, and how they are helping.
One recent recipient of a Grace Tea donation is Vyacheslav Bondar, a pastor in Kharkiv. Over the past 10 years, Vyacheslav has worked with families and orphans in crisis. His family is now safe in Romania, but he has remained behind to help.
“Pray for us while we have health strength and our life.”
Church groups within Kharkiv have come together, creating an organized network to distribute aid packages. Every three days, trucks make a delivery to their warehouse. A trusted list of volunteers works to unpack and package everything received before distributing it to those who need it most. They are working closely with the city’s politicians and social services to get lists of people in need to ensure the right people receive aid.
The list of people receiving aid includes elderly and disabled people, pregnant women, and women with newborn babies.
Due to the bombings in Kharkiv, many people are hiding in subways for safety. Each church in the network has taken responsibility for a subway station or stop, delivering aid to the people hiding there. However, they are still unsure how to reach people sheltering in private bomb shelters and basements as it is hard to know how many there are, where each one is located, and which ones are in use — this is a crisis they haven’t yet figured out how to solve.
Vyacheslav and his church network have even managed to leave aid within Saltivka, an incredibly dangerous region in Kharkiv. Right now, no one wants to enter Saltivka, as the bombs and explosions are a constant threat. This video was recently captured in Saltivka. Towards the end of the video, you can hear gunfire and eventually a bomb exploding in the distance at 0.58. The house across the road from the church where this was filmed has since been destroyed.
For more information and updates about how Vyacheslav, and his network of churches, are helping within Kharkiv, visit his YouTube Channel. Additionally, you can watch this video explaining their infrastructure and operations in English.
To support people like Vyacheslav, who have remained behind to help Ukrainians seeking shelter and trying to flee to safety, you can donate to Grace Tea here.