“Shaping Up the Future Together With Mariupol Residents”: The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation Took Part in the Summary Conference IAmMariupol. Returning to Life

On 20 July, one of the Kyiv-based centres for comprehensive support to IDPs from Mariupol hosted a summary conference IAmMariupol. Returning to life. Among the participants of the event was the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, which has been consistently helping Mariupol residents for many years and closely cooperating with IAmMariupol centres throughout the country during the full-scale war.

“We have been partners literally since the time when the first IAmMariupol hub was opened. We started our help with food assistance packages and hygiene kits. In fact, we continue this. We also support the centres with our psychologists. This is very important, because the big idea of IAmMariupol is to return people to a full-quality life, and this is impossible if you do not work with the war trauma,” emphasized Natalya Yemchenko, a member of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation’s Supervisory Board.

The enemy turned the once flourishing city of Mariupol into a real hell. Those who were lucky enough to survive ended up in different cities of Ukraine and the world. To support these people, IAmMariupol centres were created, where they can receive humanitarian, medical, psychological, and legal assistance. And since recently, IDPs from Mariupol started to receive some support with housing.

“The topic of housing is very important now. We actively support #IAmMariupolHousing project. We consider this experience absolutely headmost: the redesign and conversion of hostels into temporary social housing for IDPs from Mariupol. We are partners of the first hostel, where we were responsible for the interior part, and we are ready to remain partners in the next hostels as well,” Natalya Yemchenko said. 
The mayors of Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities, the head of Donetsk State Regional and Military Administration, the ambassador of Denmark to Ukraine, representatives of Ukrainian and international aid organizations spoke at the conference. They raised the topics of the adaptation of IDPs in the new communities, the life of and cooperation inside the evacuated Mariupol community, and, of course, the restoration of the city after the Victory.

“We, as a large business, as SCM, and this decision was also taken by Rinat Akhmetov, we very actively discuss all the topics of the city’s recovery with Mariupol residents, and we do it exactly on the basis of IAmMariupol centres. And we do it in engagement mode. That is, we are not just helping to survive, but together with people, we are shaping up the future right now,” Natalya Yemchenko added.

Since 2014, assistance from the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, SCM businesses and Shakhtar Football Club has reached more than 18 million people. The assistance is provided within the framework of the program Rinat Akhmetov – Saving Lives.