How You Can Help the People of Ukraine
Sammi Bradley, Digital Communications Coordinator, Optica
Updated 22 March, 2022
With the Russian military invasion of Ukraine ongoing, Optica members in the area have compiled a non-exhaustive list of organizations operating in Ukraine and the surrounding regions asking for humanitarian assistance and donations.
Aid and further information can be found on the organizations’ websites, linked in each description below.
Voices of Children, a Ukrainian charity, provides psychological and psychosocial support to children facing the consequences of armed conflict.
Sunflower of Peace provides backpacks of second-level medical care, including a variety of first aid supplies such as bandages, anti-hemorrhagic medicine like Quikclot and Celox, medical instruments, and a means for survival in extreme conditions.
International Committee of the Red Cross
The ICRC, which has been working in Ukraine since 2014, provides support including emergency assistance such as food, water, and other essential items as well as support to hospitals and primary healthcare facilities with medical equipment and emergency preparedness.
Save the Children, which has been operating in Ukraine since 2014, is providing psychosocial support, distributing winter kits and hygiene kits and providing cash grants to families so they can meet basic needs such as food, rent, medicines, and other vital resources.
The UNHCR contributes to emergency relief efforts and helps provide humanitarian assistance to those in crisis.
The UNHCR is currently taking donations to send aid to families in Ukraine.
Caritas is a Polish charity organization currently accepting donations for the "Aid For Ukraine" fundraiser to supply urgent hygiene and basic material assistance along with financial assistance to people in need due to the invasion.
United Nations Children's Fund
The UNICEF, a humanitarian agency of the UN, is accepting donations to deliver lifesaving programs for affected children and families.
Aid includes prepositioning health, hygiene and emergency education supplies, trucking safe water to conflict-affected areas, supporting mobile child protection teams and other emergency interventions.
WaveJobs: Photonic Aid For Ukraine
WaveJobs, the photonics employment-searching portal, is listing work and academic opportunities in photonics for those fleeing Ukraine in need of employement elsewhere.
WaveJobs is actively accepting job postings from employers offering positions to refugees from Ukraine and is dedicated to creating a network of contacts between employers and those in need of opportunities.
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