“Volunteering for Ukraine” articles are written by individuals connected to HURI and the wider Harvard community who have been volunteering with effective programs to provide physical or monetary aid to refugees, displaced persons, and those remaining in Ukraine who are at risk because of the war.
- Freedom No Matter the Cost
In his latest report from the front lines, Ukrainian-American journalist David Kirichenko shares his efforts to deliver crucial supplies, including high-tech surveillance drones, to Ukrainian soldiers in Donetsk Oblast and Zaporizhzhia Oblast. He bears witness to the emotional toll inflicted on these troops after more than two years of war and reflects on how freedom… - Humanitarian Voices: Elevating the Voices of Changemakers in the 21st Century
Eli Malkovskiy is a first-year medical student at the University of Rochester and an editor and social media manager for Humanitarian Voices – a human-centered storytelling organization that elevates the voices of global community leaders, humanitarians, advocates, and changemakers who have uplifted people around the world. Humanitarian Voices was established in April 2022 by Harrison… - Ukraine through the eyes of an American volunteer
Shaughn Varnell came to Ukraine in April 2022, a few weeks into the full-scale invasion. First, he settled in Lviv, where he searched for volunteer opportunities and started learning Ukrainian. His Ukrainian tutor put him in touch with Rescue Now, a non-profit organization that was looking for volunteers in Kharkiv. Shaughn took the opportunity, moved… - A War for the Soul of Humanity
David Kirichenko is a Ukrainian-American freelance journalist. Ever since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, David has volunteered to help Ukrainian refugees on the ground in Mexico, Romania, the United States, and Ukraine. Collaborating with Dobra Sprava, a Dnipro-based non-profit organization, David coordinates the procurement and delivery of essential supplies for Ukrainian troops on… - A Rake and a Rag: Fighting for People, Mending Broken Lives
Joanna Cutts has studied at Warsaw University, Vienna University, and was a visiting scholar at Brown University. Her specialization is in the methodology of teaching, curriculum design, and testing. She is the founder of Cogitania, an organization that helps students develop their engagement with the sciences. I was born in Puck, Poland on the Baltic… - Realizations From Donbas
David Kirichenko is a Ukrainian-American freelance journalist. Ever since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, David has volunteered to help Ukrainian refugees on the ground in Mexico, Romania, the United States, and Ukraine. Collaborating with Dobra Sprava, a Dnipro-based non-profit organization, David coordinates the procurement and delivery of essential supplies for Ukrainian troops on… - Aid from the Inside Out: Glory to the Ukrainian Blue-Collar Interstices
by Britta Ellwanger, Ian Crookston, and John Vsetecka *** We want to write about Ukrainian volunteer war relief efforts but before we do so, it seems right to spend a moment on that one word. War. Every morning at 9 am Ukraine holds a moment of silence for the fallen. We, too, want to hold a… - Supporting Ukrainian Psychologists to Improve Mental Health Care during the War
Alexander A. Lupis, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist based in Washington, DC. He is also a moderator of the National Psychological Association (NPA) of Ukraine and a member of the Committee on International Relations at the American Psychological Association (APA). His volunteer work has focused on helping Ukraine’s National Psychological Association expand their work with support… - The Power of Virtual Connections: Helping Ukrainian Refugees in Romania
David Kirichenko is a freelance journalist and an editor at Euromaidan Press, an online English language media outlet in Ukraine. Ever since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, David has volunteered to help Ukrainian refugees on the ground in Mexico, Romania, the United States, and Ukraine. He volunteered with the Dnipro-based organization Dobra Sprava… - Launching a Mental Health First Aid Charity for Ukraine
Hannah Scott is a Belfer Young Leader Fellow in her second year in the Harvard Kennedy School MPP (Master in Public Policy) program. She has been working with First Aid of the Soul since March 2022 as part of the founding team that worked to formally incorporate the charity. Since then, she has worked as the charity’s… - A Voracious Beast: Emotional Energy in the Tsunami of Suffering
Ivan Shmatko is a PhD student in sociology at the University of Alberta (Canada). Ivan has been a part of the volunteer movement in Ukraine since February 24. He has done research on policing in Ukraine and the imaginaries that shape how police officers see their work and interact with others. His doctoral research project… - On Trust, Transparency, and Learning from the Experience of the Extraordinary
Dafna Rachok is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington. She is a Ukrainian-born anthropologist with interests in medical and political anthropology. Her research seeks to understand how vulnerable groups in Ukraine respond to existing HIV prevention and treatment programs and how their attitudes to the state shape their desire… - How I Contribute to the Ukrainian War Effort as a Graduate Student in the United States
Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon is a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania and an alumna of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. Her work examines how Black experience in the Soviet Union shaped Black identity, and how the presence of people of color shaped ideas and understandings of race, ethnicity, and nationality policy in the Soviet… - Working Together in Warsaw and Beyond: The Creation of forPeace’s Ukraine Relief Project Team
John Vsetecka is a PhD Candidate in the Department of History at Michigan State University. With a specific focus on the Holodomor, his current work seeks to understand how people make sense of tragedies and come to terms with difficult pasts. After being evacuated from a Fulbright placement in Ukraine to Warsaw, Poland due to Russia’s war,… - The Importance of Helping to Leave
Daria Savchenko is a PhD Candidate in Harvard’s Department of Anthropology, focusing on the anthropology of artificial intelligence. Daria started working with Helping to Leave in May 2022, inspired by a post shared by her friend. The impressive atmosphere of support from other volunteers and the first message, “We are safe,” from Ukrainian evacuees showed…