Cards for Ukraine
Who we are, what we are doing, how we are helping, how you can help. Stories from Natalia, Kira, Lia, Iryna, and Olena. What to read.
Photos like these sent to me from Ukrainians who received €50 Hofer gift cards from us lift my spirits even when the going gets rough, and lately, it’s been rough. The war in Ukraine is now in its sixth month, it’s the dog days of August, the plight of refugees in Europe is no longer making media headlines, and yet, the problems never went away. Savings Ukrainians brought with them, in US dollars and Hryvnia they carefully changed into Euros, are long gone, many have found it very difficult to find work in Austria — language barriers, bureaucratic barriers, small children to care for, pensioners who cannot work, and the monthly support payments from the Austrian government (€215 per adult and €100 per child recently increased by about €40 per adult but some Austrian states are refusing to pay the newly mandated amount per my group chat with 1000+ Ukrainian refugees in Austria) are simply not enough to even eat a balanced diet on at today’s food prices, exacerbated by Putin’s war inflation.
So, we started giving out supermarket gift cards, €50 each, one per family, one time, on April 19, and we never stopped. In May, the incredible Mario Zechner, with no personal connection to Ukraine whatsoever (actually, I don’t have one either, but I do speak Russian, so I ended up helping because of my language skills), built a website, digitalised the process for requesting and distributing cards, and took over the bulk orders of the gift cards, opening an account for the charity, registering the charity, etc. I have continued to send cards directly to Ukrainians, through funds I receive, cards I am handed. We use the post for most cards, but I deliver by hand to residents of Vienna-area dorms where I am not entirely sure they will receive their mail. These also often happen to be the most vulnerable people (elderly, handicapped, no money left at all).
To date, we have helped put what is essentially a week’s worth of groceries if you stretch it properly on the tables of thousands of Ukrainian families in Austria. Which is amazing and could not have been done without the generosity of donors from around the world. Unfortunately, the need is even greater today than it was in April, and we simply don’t have enough funding to meet the demand for supermarket gift cards from Ukrainians in Austria.
Today, I would like to share a few stories from the Ukrainians themselves whom we helped already with cards. I have now finally put together a group chat of over 1000 Ukrainians in Austria (and would be able to add many more if Telegram and Messenger didn’t think I was spam!). I would like the world to hear their stories, and understand in what condition refugees arrived and are still arriving to Austria. Last night I was shown a photo of a young boy of about five, sitting on a cot. He and his mother have been in a shelter in Wiener Neustadt for seven days. There is no housing. Housing is the next ticking time bomb. I cannot help with that, but we can try and help Ukrainians to buy the groceries they need right now. The logistics work beautifully and we have zero overhead. Post reaches most addresses in Austria in 24-48 hours, and in the Vienna area, I am happy to deliver by hand to group homes.
This week we helped two pregnant women, both from Mariupol, one in Vienna, one in Graz, both expecting to give birth in a matter of weeks. We fast tracked them when we heard their stories from a volunteer. This is the beauty of the internet. We can all so quickly reach each other.
Below I share four stories from four women who all received Hofer cards (two of whom I met in person in Vienna), each in their own words, with permission.
Natalia
“We paid to flee occupied Mariupol, the city was surrounded and we couldn’t reach the humanitarian evacuation trains of the Ukrainian side. We had to pay, together with my son, to get out via Crimea, then Georgia, Turkey, then I flew to Austria, at each step you had to pay. Because we were already on occupied territory, we could not withdraw money from our Ukrainian bank cards, we didn’t even have money to pay the helpers who helped us get out. I paid with my gold jewellery. In Mariupol we were in the cold in the basement under fire without food and almost without water, I had swelling, my kidneys stopped working properly because there was no protein. When I arrived in Austria, I waited a long time for my registration, and without it I could not receive the social payments, I needed to eat protein again, meat, vegetables, dairy. The payments are not large, and what made it harder is our things all burned in our apartment, so I had to buy my clothes all over again: socks, underwear, shoes, warm clothes, an umbrella. It cost a lot.
Therefore the grocery card helped me to buy some proper food, to buy ground beef and dairy. I am also now in treatment for my thyroid so I cannot work yet, because my kidney stone collects blood when I exert myself, so for now I live on the social payments. My son is 20. He immediately went to Lithuania, to work, it was easier there. He found a job already on day two. He would have finished his university but now he went just as a simple unskilled labourer to earn money. I am here because they are helping me restore my health. The healthcare is good here. In Ukraine they would have just removed my thyroid; here they said they can help me. Thank you for your charity work and to everyone who isn’t indifferent.
This is what my city looks like now.
This was my apartment. The neighbours sent the photo.
On March 22, a man drove us in a shot-up car from the cellar while under fire to Urzuf, that is a village near Mariupol. Then he drive many people out, he saved them. In April, he died. His name was Vasily Tarasenko. On April 5 we went to Crimea, and on the 12 April we arrived in Vienna, at the airport. I didn’t have an international passport, but Austria said it was ok and in a few minutes they let me through. We went Urzuf-Simferopol-Tbilisi then we flew Tbilisi-Istanbul-Vienna. We didn’t have any money left for the airfare. One ticket was paid for my friends from Ukraine, and the other ticket was paid for by Russians who raised money, that was how we got out.
Natalia made this photo collage of residents of Mariupol who died in the war. I cannot look at it without crying. You don’t find the words. I don’t find the words.
Kira
I would like to express my gratitude to Tanja and all the people who are helping our family! Truly, from the bottom of my heart, I am grateful for the help, it is so necessary and timely. We arrived in Austria, without things, without money, without anything, with three young children and I was eight months pregnant! I was about to give birth, had to get everything ready for the baby, my son was still very young, we needed diapers, you want to feed your kids properly, to treat them sometimes, it is so difficult to explain, that we cannot buy sweets or fruit right now :( You don’t understand what you should do, where to run to, where to find money for food with such prices. The Hofer card was really helpful, we bought the kids fruit, sweets, everything we needed, and we were able to treat them a little bit, even though it was a really difficult period of time for us. Thank you for your strong shoulder, which you offer in a minute of need, and most important, that you make us feel supported and certain that someone will help us. I wish you kindness, unbounded optimism, and that your kind deeds will come back to you like a boomerang.
Lia
Lia wrote this in English in her own words:
Dear Tatiana, volunteers and kind Austrian people! Thankfully for your help that we receive every day from possibility to attend kindergarten and language courses to receive cards for shopping in the supermarket. Since we settled in suburb of Austria we get acquainted with local rules, customs, some people and food traditions. It was complicated decision to choose between items for our apartment and necessary food like meat, diary products, bakery because my 3 old years kid is fan of cookies, buns. We used to have seasonal vegetables and fruits, but here some of them are expensive. We are greatfull for help, and could let to buy all goods for the first time from detergent to do washing- up to fruits and treat my kid healthy food.
Iryna
Thank you Tanja and the people who are helping us. I only found out by accident about your cards and I immediately wrote you a message, because we were still waiting for the government payment and my kids had birthdays and you gave me a card at that moment when it was really hard for me. And I was able to buy some food and bake a birthday cake for my kids. Thank you again for everything you are doing and to all the people who are helping.
Olena
The card which you gave us didn’t just help, it was a really big discovery and assistance. We were living in (dorm in 11th district - TM) and we were not entitled to government payments because of this. Therefore I would really like to say to all the people who are helping a huge thank you because the work you are doing is really important for us.
Olena has since moved into a better dorm in Vienna where she and her son are entitled to government assistance. Her son will have to repeat third grade, again. She isn’t thrilled about that, but is happy they are under peaceful skies. Kira gave birth to a healthy baby boy, and is now a mom of four, living in a small town in Lower Austria. She recently told all the women in our group chat how to find Red Cross food assistance nearby and line up for a free bag of groceries on Saturday. Natalia, as you read, is taking care of her health (medical care is one of the few areas which is working well for refugees in Austria), and Lia is with her adorable son of three and a half in a suburb near Vienna.
Life moves on. We simply try and make the landing a little bit softer. We are not changing the world, we are only putting cash equivalent for food in the hands of Ukrainian families in Austria, one at a time. We receive funding, we immediately buy cards. We don’t have overhead. I run around delivering as soon as I have cards to deliver. Mario and I send the vast majority by post. He has a waiting list of over 1,500 families. My own little waiting list is nearly 100 empty pre-addressed envelopes. It is what it is. I hope we can continue to help, but we need to raise more money to be able to do so. This popped in my inbox this morning:
p.s. If you read one thing today, read this. So beautifully written by a Ukrainian journalist about such horrors. The most moving piece I have read in the NYT in a long time.
€1,000 donated to us is a week’s worth of self-selected groceries for 20 Ukrainian refugees like Natalia, Kira, Lia, Iryna and Olena and their families in Austria.
Credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay super easy two clicks or Bank transfer (IBAN): https://cards-for-ukraine.at/donate
PayPal (Tanja uses directly for her smaller waiting list of urgent messages she receives): PayPal.Me/groceries4Ukraine
Or please feel free to send us €50 supermarket gift card cards, either to the address on the website above or if you are in Vienna I even have a teenage courier this month and will happily send him to collect cards and/or cash anywhere Wiener Linien reaches at your convenience.
DANKE! Thank you! It takes a village. A global village.