Pastor and baker Oleg Tkachenko is a kind soul who helps displaced people and people cut off by war in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. He has had to move his refugee center and charity bakery for the third time since 2014 due to Russian bombing. This time we helped him get his family and bakery equipment out of the partially besieged Pokrovske. Please help us rebuild the IDP center and charity bakery of Oleg Tkachenko and his family.
Who will we help?
Oleg Tkachenko and his family, to rebuild a charity bakery and a place of help for internal refugees. Oleg also delivers humanitarian aid and food to soldiers and people on the front line with the Russian occupiers.
Oleg's mission began in 2015 in Mariyinka. At the beginning of the summer, he began delivering bread to people in the city with a group of volunteers. Because at that time, only businessmen who traded with it and sold it for 11-12 hryvnias were bringing it to this front-line city. At that time, bread in other cities cost 5-6 hryvnias. The volunteers understood that it was not only necessary to bring food and clothes, but also bread, the import of which was difficult. They bought bread in Slavyansk and brought it to Mariyinka. There were about 5 checkpoints between these cities - it was very time-consuming to bring bread in time. It was successful only after lunch, when the Russians began to shell the city. In the fall of that year, Oleg began to think about building a bakery in the city. There were a lot of people in the city, many of whom had returned after the liberation. Oleg discussed the matter with his partners and friends, and they decided to open a bakery in Mariyinka.
Oleg adds: "Right after the bakery opened, people started saying that the whole city smelled of bread and that life was coming back here. One of the most important things for Oleg was that people could buy bread at an affordable price, that the bread was of good quality, and also to create new jobs. By that time, some people had already started to get used to humanitarian food supplies, it was difficult to find work, and people were dependent on humanitarian aid. This was an absolutely crucial topic for us. People believed in the victory of Ukraine and they needed to start working again and get used to a normal (in the sense of non-war) life."
The bakery itself was built in Mariyinka in 2016. It was staffed by salespeople, operators, etc., a total of about 10-15 people who took their paycheck home and were independent. More and more people came to ask about jobs. In 2018, there were already two bakeries in Mariyinka. Oleg's bakery had about 10 employees. In the second bakery, similarly. Residents of Mariyinka could buy quality bread at an affordable price. Plus, new jobs were created.
"In addition to the bakery, we continued to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to soldiers. For example, once a week, soldiers who defended our district near Krasnohorivka would come. We would give them bread and more. At that time, we lived in Vuhledar and went to work in Mariyinka.
Then in 2022, Mariyinka also became a front-line town and was actively shelled (in April 2022). We left for Pokrovskoye.
We did not plan to open a bakery there, we simply lived there. We did not have money for rent or new equipment." Oleg says.
Oleg and volunteers managed to take small things and equipment from Mariyinka during the evacuation/delivery of humanitarian aid. We donated the equipment to another bakery in Pokrovsko and bartered with them. They gave us ready-made bread in return. We transported it to Marijinka and Vuhledar and to several centers for internally displaced persons. Then our friends helped us and donated flour, etc. We only managed to transport some small equipment from Marijinka – dough mixers, refrigerators. We could not transport the ovens. We did not want to risk people’s lives during the evacuation of the equipment (people who would help with loading).
The need for bread grew as about 14,000 people remained in Vuhledar in 2022. The fact that the guys could transport 500 loaves of bread to them was like a drop in the ocean. The Pokrovsko bakery could not give us more.
Our chairman Jan Heřmánek says about the project: "I am very happy that Oleg and his family were convinced and moved further away from the front, unfortunately, FAB glide bombs, rockets and artillery shells of the Russian occupiers are now regularly falling on Pokrovsko. Together with Koridor UA, we saved the equipment that could be saved from the bakery. Now it is necessary to restore the bakery and the humanitarian work of Oleg's group in the area."
Oleg summarized the reasons why the bakery and refugee center is moving to Slavyansk below: "Why did we choose Slavyansk for the new bakery? Because the rented building belongs to our acquaintances and because it is suitable for our work and because it is the cheapest. In addition, we have a signed contract with the UN and thanks to this we can earn money, for which we will do some of the repairs and we can try to get involved in the local business market. So we can continue to cooperate with the UN and support those people who need it. Now there are many villages where we used to deliver bread even during the occupation or very close to the front. Many people from those villages have left because their lives are at stake. But the Pokrovsk region is still large and there are few bakeries. Moreover, the cities here are still Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, where they need help. The UN's help is great, but still insufficient. We understand that we have to do some work ourselves and find other donors so that we can work in other villages as well. We have friends who are local (from the villages) and are willing to deliver food and bread for people with limited mobility and the elderly who cannot evacuate.
Our next plans are to cooperate with the UN and our friends who help us. They are not just our friends, they are our partners. It doesn't matter how much they support us. Everything is a huge help and support for us." (Koridor UA, Team 4 Ukraine)
Oleg talks about his personal motivation after almost 11 years of Russian aggression:
"My personal decision was to help the soldiers. In general, the mission of our project is to help civilians. But I myself decided that I wanted to help Ukrainian soldiers because I know a lot of them and I know that they are good and honest people. A lot of my personal money goes to help the soldiers every month. And I know that my help has a lot of weight. Helping civilians also has a lot of weight. This is how history is written. Any help to civilians and soldiers has a lot of weight. If civilians were not helped, civilians would not be able to help the soldiers. If soldiers were not helped, the front would be much further than where it is now and there would not be many civilians.
That is why we continue our work and our mission."
What will Oleg do next with our help?
Implement a program with the UN and help people who are not included in this program – people who cannot come to the bread distribution point themselves. “We have friends who, for example, in Pokrovskoe will go and distribute bread themselves (to people with limited mobility, for example). It is not like in Vuhledar, where 7,000 people have remained. There are far more people in Pokrovskoe. People have nowhere to go. They do not have money for rent in another city. So if someone leaves, they will go west to Europe, where they will rely on the support of local governments. The second unpleasant thing is that they will rely on humanitarian aid. They will not be used to working and having a regime. The important thing is that these people, after all the stress and experiences, will drink (alcohol), make scandals and wherever they arrive, it will cause chaos. We want as many of our people as possible to stay in Ukraine and not flee abroad," Oleg adds.
What specifically will the money from this collection be used for?
Repairing the premises and equipping the humanitarian bakery for Oleg's initiative. This assistance will be provided by a team of Czech volunteers from our organization and Koridor UA z.s.
As Oleg describes the work that awaits us now: "We are moving in small steps now. But we are moving forward. We need to make major repairs to the house. The electricity is not installed as needed for the bakery. There is water, but it needs to be extended to those parts of the building where it is needed. The sewage system also needs to be redone. The floors need to be made new."
We estimate the budget for the renovation of the premises, equipment, launching operations and restarting humanitarian aid to the people of Donbas at approximately CZK 1,200,000. Whatever money is not used will be used for humanitarian aid in the Donetsk region.
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