Lida Moniava: “Every thousand rubles is of a great importance for a refugee from Ukraine!”

Novye Izvestia has already repeatedly published appeals by activist Lida Moniava about the need to help Ukrainian refugees who find themselves in Moscow. Today she turned to her readers with a new request:

“I am looking for people who are ready to help refugees from Ukraine with money. Any amounts are important, starting from 1 thousand rubles. For food, medicine, shorts and an apartment.

How it all works. There is a questionnaire that refugees fill out. The criteria by which we help are simple - if people arrived in the Russian Federation after February 24, who are now in Moscow and the nearest suburbs. Volunteers-curators call on these applications, collect and check information on the family and their needs.

After listening to the story of one family, you often want to drink a bottle of whiskey in one gulp. For example, recently we were approached by a family in which 5 people died, including an eight-year-old child. Grandmother died in a high-rise apartment, as it "flew" there, her husband's grandmother and aunt died in the basement, where they also "flew", daughter and grandfather died when they were hiding in a private house, "flew" there, the house took shape like a house of cards, neighbors managed to pull someone out from under the rubble and the fire, but someone did not.

And here we are in prosperous Moscow, where restaurants, theaters, and supermarkets operate. And we process questionnaires from refugees who are also now in Moscow, but in a completely different status. These are people who lived well, who had a job, someone had their own business, their own shops, who saved up for a long time and finally made repairs in the apartment, someone took care of their children, tried to make sure that they "have everything". And suddenly these people lost everything. Their home is destroyed, their jobs are gone, their belongings are burned, their city is no more, their past life is destroyed.

They are in a foreign country, they know nothing, they have no rights to official employment and medical care, they live semi-legally in apartments in terrible conditions. They sleep on the floor, do not have clothes, food and medicine, spend the night for 3 months without bed linen and pillows. It is very difficult to recognize this reality. Hair stands on end when you listen to their stories and about the conditions in which they find themselves now, in the same city with us.

We already have a system in place. Almost 200 volunteer facilitators communicate with families and listen to their concerns and needs. Send me requests for help. My job is to look for people who will help pay for these applications. Someone does not have spare underpants, and they need 3-4 thousand rubles for underwear. In some family, a child has a fever, and 1,000 rubles are needed for antipyretic drugs. Some families do not eat enough, they eat pasta, and 10 thousand rubles are needed to buy them meat, vegetables and washing powder. There are families who have already got a job, but have not yet received their first salary, they need 20-30 thousand to pay for a month of renting an apartment, and then they can do it themselves.

I am looking for people who are ready to buy something for refugees. Starting from 1 thousand rubles, any amount is very important to us. If you are ready to help, write to me on whatsapp 8 968 029 38 29 the amount you are willing to donate. I will select an application from refugees for you, and we will ask you to pay online or transfer money directly to refugees.

I feel like I've stepped back in philanthropy 15 years ago. Now it is true that such direct assistance to people to eat and get dressed is more necessary than systemic projects. And every thousand rubles really matters..."