Over the year Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center helped 930,000 people
"During the year of its operation Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center managed to build the most effective system of humanitarian aid delivery to Donbas civilians and become the largest supplier of humanitarian goods is Ukraine, – Grigory Koldunov, Director of Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center, said at the briefing in "Ukrainsky Novyny" Information Agency. – Over the 12 months of the Humanitarian Center's operation, the humanitarian aid was provided to 930,000 people, where 750,000 were elderly and disabled people and 48,000 were children. Every month 500,000 people receive food packages from Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center".
On August 6, 2014, a year ago, Rinat Akhmetov established the Humanitarian Center to provide the maximum support to civilians of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Center has pooled the resources of Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, all SCM Group’s businesses and Shakhtar Football Club.
Grigory Koldunov emphasized that unlike other humanitarian organizations, providing assistance to the most vulnerable civilians, the Humanitarian Center undertakes a commitment to provide them with subsequent deliveries. "Pensioners who receive food packages know that if they come back to the issuing point in 35 days, they will get their humanitarian aid again. In such a way our system gives these people confidence in the future, which is very important in view of complete uncertainty that was brought to the East of Ukraine by the war", - Koldunov stated.
At the briefing the Humanitarian Center's coordinator Rimma Fil told about many different people working for the Humanitarian Center: phthisiatricians and oncologists from Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, specialists from Shakhtar Football Club, employees of SCM Group’s enterprises, volunteers and drivers – during the year these people have been retrained into the best specialists in purchasing, delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid in Ukraine.
The main programs that have been implemented by the Humanitarian Center over the year are: evacuation and accommodation of internally displaced persons, humanitarian aid for elderly people and children, targeted and psychological assistance. Some of the short-term projects, such as "Peaceful summer for Donbas children", were implemented too.
"I am sure that we can fully appreciate everything that has been done by Rinat Akhmetov and his Humanitarian Center only after a while. That enormous work, which has been done and keeps being done every day, has a very simple human base: help the citizens of Ukraine, who got in trouble and experienced war. This humanitarian aid helps millions of our fellow countrymen survive", – Rimma Fil emphasized.
According to Natalia Yemchenko, the Supervisory Board member at Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center and Public Relations and Communications Director at SCM, the Humanitarian Center is not planning its activity for more than three months ahead. The plan for the short-term prospective is to preserve the amount of issued humanitarian aid at the level of 500,000 food packages per month. Using its mobile volunteers teams the Center is planning to deliver food packages to the remote villages and small settlements, where no other humanitarian aid is provided. The Humanitarian Center's psychologists keep on working with children who have war trauma on both sides of the contact line. The targeted assistance program will be continued as well.
"Efficiency is one of the key principles of Humanitarian Center's operation. The point of this principle is to help as many vulnerable people, as possible. When the trouble is as large-scale, as the one we are facing now in Ukraine, when millions of people need help, many things depends on the efficiency of our work. Today Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center is the largest humanitarian mission is Ukraine in terms of aid volumes, and this is mostly due to effectiveness of its team. I truly admire everyone who works in the Humanitarian Center and with it, and I want to express my most sincere gratitude to these people", – Natalia Yemchenko emphasized.
