Volunteers will pick up used items that OKKO customers leave in specially designated containers at Kyiv filling stations located on Generala Vatutina Street, 2a and Dniprovska Naberezhna Street, 8. The items will then be transferred to people living in the government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
In mid-July, “Responsible Citizens” picked up the first batch of items weighing a total of 300 kilograms from two filled containers at the filling stations. These items were sent to Kramatorsk, to the office of the volunteer organization, from where they were distributed to recipients in different parts of Donetsk region.
The public organization “Responsible Citizens” was founded in 2014 in Donetsk after the escalation of the situation in eastern Ukraine. Currently, its activists operate only in those areas of Donbas controlled by the Ukrainian authorities. “Responsible Citizens” provide targeted assistance (clothing, medicines, hygiene products, building materials, etc.) to people living in areas close to the conflict zone. They also support social institutions - hospitals, shelters, nursing homes, centers for internally displaced persons, etc.
“Collecting clothes, shoes, bed linen, toys, books, stationery is a wonderful initiative. Kyiv residents responded very actively. In less than a month, the containers are filled to the top,” says co-founder of the organization “Responsible Citizens” Dmytro Shybalov. “We thank the OKKO network and all caring residents of the capital for their initiative. All collected items will be handed over by our volunteers in Donetsk region directly to those in need.”
Recall that since 2013, the OKKO network has been involved in collecting used items for low-income segments of the population. The first 2 containers for collecting items were installed at filling stations in Lviv together with the mutual aid association “Oselya”. Now such containers are available at 10 filling stations - in addition to Lviv, also in Kyiv, Odesa, and Dnipro. In 2015, about 4 tons of items were collected this way.
“Since today there are a large number of internally displaced persons in Ukraine, such activities, unfortunately, do not lose relevance,” says Anna Tykhovska, corporate social responsibility manager of the OKKO network. “At the same time, we see a significant growth of social consciousness and civic activity in Ukraine. Many people are ready to share with the needy, and there are those who spend their time and effort to deliver help exactly where it is most needed. Cooperation with such people inspires our company. As does the understanding that we managed to make someone's life better and easier.”
