Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, volunteers have played a huge role in society. They are the ones who literally get the necessary bulletproof vests and rare medicines out of the ground, feed and clothe our defense and army, and do not leave without help not only single old and long-term mothers, but also street animals who are left without support.

We will tell you about Odessa volunteers. The city still had many charitable foundations and public organizations. Today, new ones have appeared, and their tasks have become more difficult: we need to act quickly, on a large scale, and it is much harder to extract everything we need than before. How do they manage to do the impossible every day, so to speak?

The charity fund and emergency center "Human Trust Platinum Good Ukraine" officially officially a week from birth - the organization has just been registered. But the fact that in Odessa on Tairov there is a huge warehouse where you can get clothes, food, necessities and other assistance, immigrants and residents of social categories know from the first days of the war. Yuriy Romanchykov, the head of the Platinum Auto showroom, did not think long about what and how to help the Motherland - he immediately vacated the spacious premises of the showroom and set up a volunteer center there. His wife Angelica now manages the newly created fund.

Yuri and Angelica Romanchikov

Many were confused at the beginning of the war, some immediately went to safety, scared. You did it completely differently. How did you come up with the idea of ​​becoming a volunteer?

We started working with the help of the military. They turned to us and asked for help. So they collected everything necessary for the border guards from Belgorod-Dniester, bought food, detergents and much more at their own expense. At the same time, a request was received for help from a maternity hospital in the Odesa region: careless mothers left their newborn babies there and fled abroad themselves. We also had to collect improvised "baby boxes" for them. Now, in addition to working in the city, Platinum Dobro sends 2-3 cars to the region every day. The situation there is much more complicated than in Odessa.

Yuri, who was with you in the first days, who helped?

I started alone. For his money he bought, transported, transferred. Then my wife joined, then our friends. From the strength of five people. Now we have about 60 volunteers, and many of them are immigrants themselves - they come, come for help for themselves and immediately stay here to help others. Many people from Mariupol, there are from Nikolaev, Kherson.

The headquarters is 1,000 square meters, there are queues every day, everything is full of people. There are two more warehouses with baby food and products. At least one hundred families, 4-5 people each, visit us every day. People write applications, they list what they need. We publish everything from bed linen and utensils to hygiene products and medicines.

We are known on social networks, information is spread by word of mouth. Many migrants come here directly from the train. We work with the migration service, help them organize the settlement, and immediately provide products.

Isn't it difficult to work so hard, while also working as an accountant on social networks?

Social networks are also important for drawing attention to our activities, where we report on the work done, the tools used. We are submitted applications on Instagram and telegrams, at least 50-60 such requests are received per day. When we have time, we process them, collect them from the parcel list, and then hand them over to the right hands.

A lot of people come from the region - there are much more serious problems than in Odessa, and there is often a lack of food and clothing and footwear. In a big city, you know, finding resources is easier.

Every day we send canned food to the military, medicines. Once a week we necessarily send cars to Nikolaev for the help, and on the way back we evacuate people. There are even special cars for this - we take children and the elderly from there. People who can't come by themselves write to us from different countries asking to help take out their relatives. We help, of course.

We also cooperate with other volunteer centers. It happens that someone has a request for what they do not have now, and we just brought it. We share, of course, what we can.

Volunteers of the Platinum Good Ukraine Human Trust Center

Ordinary people help you, including labor and tools. Now residents of Odessa come with huge packages of clothes, which are not in stock. What is the main part of the help they bring?

Bring a lot of clothes, of course. Especially children's and women's. Many people also help with products, some on a regular basis. Volunteers not only load, carry, sort, but also roll in their own cars where needed. Of course, the stocks of Ukrainians are running out ... At first, many people could afford to help with money, we bought what we needed at our own expense. Now there is less and less money. However, many help as much as they can. As before, bring clothes and children's toys, strollers, cribs and more. Entrepreneurs give what they do, they bring us bread, various products.

The variety and quantity of your help is impressive. And what is most missing?

The most difficult clothes are for teenagers, especially shoes - for both girls and boys. Adolescents are the fastest to fly. Now it is the change of seasons, people came in the winter, and to buy things for the season they, of course, can not afford. In addition, in a foreign city, they are usually poorly oriented and do not know where to find shops. Bed linen, pillows, blankets are constantly needed. Pots and pans are in great demand. Hygiene is also always needed. It is now difficult to find cereals from the products, many of them have become much more expensive or in short supply. But we find everything, it also helps.

Another important item of our expenses is car fuel. We constantly travel to cities and regions, and go to neighboring regions. The guys provide cars for free, spend long hours behind the wheel, but they need to at least refuel. At their own expense now to do it is mostly no longer affordable for people.

Angelica Romanchikova

Do you need a fund for this? Angelico, you have been helping people since the first day of the war, and you have only just gained official status. The fund is additional bureaucracy, registration of a pile of papers. Maybe it was not necessary to create it?

The fund is an official status, control over all receipts, confidence that we do it honestly. We can report for every penny spent, and the legal status of the fund increases the credibility of us and our activities. In addition, as a foundation, we can receive additional assistance for our wards. So far, however, humanitarian aid has not yet come from the authorities, we have written official letters and we are waiting. In the meantime, we manage our own funds - friends, acquaintances, one-time contributions, transfers and parcels from abroad.
The daily work of the center is large sums, from 70 thousand UAH. After all, we have 800 people a day. We consider each case individually, we help not only migrants - there are local mothers who were left without support. Having many children or with children with disabilities, or just people in difficult life situations. An important area of ​​our work is emergency care in the maternity hospital. In an hour or two we collect and deliver directly to the maternity hospital, personally to the midwife in the hands of a complete set of essentials: it's food, and clothes, and diapers, and a cart with a bath. All dowry. They know us, so they write from maternity hospitals, doctors recommend women to contact us, mothers tell each other about us…

When people on social media ask who to turn to for help with migrants, you are usually called one of the first. Is it due to your activity in social networks?

Not only. We really do a lot. We provide assistance quickly, directly, on request. For example, we distribute clothing that is too difficult for many other organizations to assemble and sort, requiring a large space and a lot of hands. We have it all, and the information is flying around the sarafan radio. We are recommended to each other by the migrants themselves, they come to us purposefully, bypassing the official social authorities, or immediately from the CNAP. They negotiate and meet right here with each other.

In March we had more than 8,000 people. And they all received help on the day of treatment. This is how we differ from many other centers, where you have to wait a day or longer after the application. People who run away from home without anything, sometimes just in a robe and slippers, can't afford to wait long.

In fact, while we are talking to Yuri and Angelica, a car stops near the warehouse. Despite the cool rainy weather, one of the little passengers in it is wearing shorts and flip-flops. But intact and alive, and sneakers and jeans for the boy will pick up.

There is also a pediatrician working at the Platinum Dobro Center, who can be contacted if necessary. And for volunteers who, like bees, work tirelessly all day, and for tired hungry refugees just in the open air near the warehouse set a table with fragrant hot pilaf. They gather at the table as one family. A family where everyone shares bread, warmth and kindness with each other.