Ukrainian mother and daughter who lived in Grantham ask people to create ‘Boxes of Love’ for elderly people in Ukraine
A Ukrainian mother and daughter are appealing for people to create ‘Boxes of Love’ for elderly people in Ukraine.
Kateryna Buchatska, who lived in Grantham at the start of the Ukrainian war, is helping her mother Elena Buchatskaya to distribute these boxes in Kyiv.
Kateryna is appealing to the people of Grantham to help create these boxes to send over to Ukraine and “make the oldest lonely and sick people happier”.
She said: “Once we were with my mum and our host sitting in a cafe close to Grantham.
“It was a Tuesday and we were greatly surprised by how many older people were there and bought tea or coffee and enjoyed life.
“It was so cute and our hearts melted because reality in Ukraine now is so different.
“Our pensioners survive with very little pension and they never visit cafes with friends.
“Mostly they are growing vegetables and fruits and trying to sell them to have some extra money.
“We started to cry because we saw an example of how pension time should be spent and our host Karen said that we could create a project [called] ‘Boxes of Love’.
“My message to all English people is first of all that I am so grateful for your continued help to our people.
“We started to send these boxes and people started crying and didn't believe that someone in the opposite part of the world was thinking of them.”
Those who wish to get involved will be given the name of an elderly person in Ukraine and will be asked to fill a shoebox with treats every three months.
Karen Marlor, Kateryna and Elena’s former host, helped Elena and Kateryna to come up with the idea.
Karen said: “These people have no family to support them and are isolated as they live in flats and can't manage the stairs.
“We came up with the idea of Boxes of Love. We began to advertise for British people to be matched up with an elderly person and send them a shoe box full of treats once every three months.
“Thanks to the generosity of local people, the first batch of 11 boxes is currently being delivered by Elena.
“We will be sending a second delivery in November and are very happy that we now have 15 people signed up to the scheme.
“We would love it if more people could get involved by filling a box or contributing to the postage costs.”
At the moment, Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine are “still in danger”, added Kateryna.
She said: “We wake up at night and hide in the corridor because rockets attack.
“Everyone is prepared for the very difficult winter without electricity.”
Anyone who would like to get involved can contact Karen by email at karen.marlor@ jubileegrantham.co.uk.