Liebe Schulgemeinschaft,
im letztem Jahr haben wir durch zahlreiche Aktionen Spenden für das Behindertenzentrum Dzherelo in Lemberg in der Westukraine gesammelt. In dem folgendem Dankesgruß richtet sich das Zentrum an alle Freunde und Unterstützer. Es wird die aktuelle Lage geschilderte, sowie ein paar Eindrücke zum momentanem Leben und Wirken in Dzherelo gewährt:
Dear friends!
We sincerely thank you for your solidarity with Ukrainians during this very difficult time, supporting us and giving us strength and faith in our future Victory!
Ukraine has been under a full-scale military invasion for 11 months now. Despite all the roadblocks, Dzherelo Centre continues to receive more than 250 children and youth with disabilities for daily day care and rehabilitation programs.
We also provide crisis assistance to refugees who have children with disabilities or to those who acquired disabilities because of this war. This assistance is provided in 7 regions of western Ukraine, namely Lviv, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpattia, Rivne and Volyn regions. Dzherelo's specialists have already provided assistance to about 7,000 children with disabilities and their families. We supply children with groceries and hygiene kits, hearing aids, glasses, wheelchairs, orthopedic shoes, as well as basic necessities (blenders, bedding, kettles, clothes, etc.) according to individual needs. Thank you to each of you for supporting us financially and giving us the opportunity to help those in need! Now more than ever, the vulnerable need to be taken care of, and we are making every effort to do so.
Simultaneously, there is currently an energy crisis in Ukraine, the system is heavily damaged due to the constant shelling, and the power outages frequently cut off entire neighborhoods for long periods of time. By combining the efforts of various donors, we were able to purchase electric boilers - these will make Dzherelo independent from natural gas, but also a diesel generator and a voltage regulator system.
If the power is cut off during the time of Dzherelo's operation, we are saved by the generator, which serves as an alternative power source. Even though it is quite expensive to maintain and uses a lot of diesel fuel - the stable and safe conditions for our children are above anything else.
Often power outages coincide with the air raid alarms, so the children and employees of Dzherelo are forced to hide in the bomb shelter for several hours. In the basement we have supplies of water and food, various games, we sing songs and pray together. Our safety protocols are crystal clear, no one uses the elevators during the alarm and we try to ease the atmosphere, to avoid panic. During these times power from the generator is a complete life savior for us. As emergency measures we also bought thermal blankets, power banks, flashlights, and radio receivers for each child and family using charitable funds.
We are currently implementing a humanitarian crisis response project supported by Caritas Germany, through which we buy firewood for the Kolomyia refugee and social services center, diesel fuel for the generator providing power to Dzherelo, heaters, air conditioners, kettles for the modular towns where the refugees live, an electric boiler and some more heaters were purchased for organization that provides overnight accommodation to the homeless.
Fortunately, the first months of winter were not too harsh, we shared warmth with our loved ones and those in need, and we continue to do so. We send warm gratitude to all donors and friends of Dzherelo. This is our joint achievement.
This terrible war must not steal our dreams from us, we continue to plan ahead and make those dreams come true. One of the biggest dreams of Dzherelo's community is to build and put into operation a House of Supported Living.
Dzherelo has an old building with an area of 600 square meters and is renovating it according to the architectural project. The third part of the work has already been completed, the funds for this part were collected by the friends and family of Mychajlo and Petra Zaczkiewicz, among others. It was a great pleasure to provide all Dzherelo's children with individual gifts from Maxdorf HighSchool. Our sincere gratitude to Mychajlo and Petra Zaczkiewic.
We will continue to attract funds and carry out our work arranging and reconstructing the facility, and we believe that, despite all holdups and roadblocks, soon we will be able to open the first municipal House of Supported Living in Ukraine.
Thank you once again for your support of Dzherelo Centre and Ukraine, we pray for peace and Victory!
Слава Україні!
Kindest regards,
Zoreslava Liulchak,
Director of Dzherelo Centre
Natalia Siredzhuk
Head of the Social Projects and Development Department