Two years after the beginning of the war and nearly a decade after the conflict in the east of the country, the humanitarian situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate and will not improve if hostilities do not stop. This is the picture described by the two local Caritas organisations – Caritas Ukraine and Caritas-Spes Ukraine ...
Address: 17 Kostiolna St., 01001 Kiev, Ukraine
Telephone: +38 (044) 278-19-37
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Caritas-Spes-Ukraine-Kiev
www.caritas-spes.org
Caritas-Spes, which means “Love” and “Hope” in Latin, is a charitable mission of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Bishops of Ukraine in May 1995 and was later registered by the State Committee on Religious Issues in September 1996. Caritas was the first organisation to offer humanitarian assistance after Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
As the military conflict is still raging in the East of Ukraine, Caritas-Spes performs activities such as distribution of food, clothing and medicine. It provides psychological assistance to people in need and even some financial support to those living in areas that are not under government control. Caritas-Spes has also started a significant medical project which involves activities mainly in the Eastern part of the country.
From the very beginning, the main focus of Caritas-Spes has been children. After the Chernobyl, Caritas funded assistance for children who had suffered, either by sending them to health resorts in Ukraine or to hospitals abroad. Caritas specialises in the improvement of children’s health. Every year, approximately 3000 children improve their health in our recreation centres: Jablunytsia (Ivano-Frankivsk region), Berdiansk (Zaporizia region), Zarichany (not far from Zhytomyr), Oleksandrivka (Zhytomyr region) and Pnikut (Volyn region). Furthermore, Caritas-Spes organises and runs 25 family-style homes for orphans and dozens of day care centres both for pre-school and school-age children including homeless children and children with disabilities.
Other social projects of Caritas-Spes are oriented to support youth, senior citizens, the needy, addicts, and people living with HIV/AIDS. Our mission also offers employment to people in economically depressed areas of Ukraine by running self-sustainingprojects.
Caritas-Spes has up to 80 regional centres in the whole territory of Ukraine that actively organise assistance for those who need it regardless of creed, race or ethnicity through soup kitchens, social centres, houses of mercy, medical cabinets, rehabilitation centres etc. Caritas-Spes relies on generous donations to continue its work.
Caritas-Spes Ukraine has been a member of Caritas Europa as well as Caritas Internationalis since 1999. It has been able to expand its activities thanks to its involvement within the international family of Caritas and support from numerous foreign organisations both Catholic and of good will.
Updates from Ukraine
Once upon a time, in a country where laughter mingled with tears and hope shone even in the darkest of times, there lived a little Ukrainian girl named Milana. Milana was a funny, pretty girl with sparkling eyes that held galaxies of curiosity and wonder. Her infectious laughter echoed through the corridors of the Caritas ...
This project, in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, offers 800 children and an additional 200 parents from socially precarious and economically disadvantaged backgrounds help and support, in coping with everyday life every year and now more important than ever. At the beginning of the war, many of the project beneficiaries fled to other parts ...
“Russia’s attack on the Caritas-Spes Ukraine warehouse in Lviv last night, destroying 300 tonnes of humanitarian aid for the people of Ukraine, was an outrage and a flagrant violation of International Humanitarian Law,” states Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis Alistair Dutton from New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly and where Ukrainian ...
A Caritas humanitarian aid warehouse has burnt to the ground overnight in Lviv following a Russian attack. Caritas staff were unharmed but an estimated 300 tonnes of humanitarian goods were completely destroyed in the fire, which included food, hygiene kits, generators and clothes. “On the night of September 19, 2023 Russian troops hit an industrial ...
A family from Kharkiv lived in a basement for 200 days It is cool and drafty in the basement of this 16-story building on Northern Saltivka. Dusty communication pipes stretch along the walls, wires hang from the ceiling. It is hard to believe that people lived in these conditions for a long time. They didn’t ...
Today, February 24, 2023, is the anniversary of the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine. Caritas Internationalis and the National Office team of Caritas-Spes Ukraine would like to invite you to join the prayer of the Way of the Cross. We want to call this Way of the Cross “The 366th station” to symbolize ...
“My name is Tetyana Bilyaeva, I come from the Kherson region in the Goloprystansky district, village Novaya Zburjivka. I worked as a methodologist in a kindergarten. I worked as a director of a community centre, which means I always had to deal with people, with children. That’s what I always liked. And when the war ...
Tetiana, doctor In Ukraine, she worked as a paediatrician in a local hospital. Tetiana’s family managed to literally escape to safety, to Slovakia. After a difficult period, she enjoys completely ordinary activities such as cooking jam or working in the garden which make her happy. Irina, teacher The English and Bulgarian teacher’s home was ...
The border crossing to Romania was the light at the end of the tunnel for Iryna, her daughter, her sister-in-law, and her two daughters, escaping from the war in Ukraine. Iryna Pysarenko (31 years old) is a mother from Drushkovka in the Donetsk region in Ukraine. She came to Romania on April 4, 2022, with ...
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