More than a thousand stories of heroes. How does the Lviv Military Family Support Office work?

My name is Anna. I am the wife of a soldier of the Armed Forces. After the terrible news from Buchi, my 50-year-old husband packed up and volunteered to go east. Now I know exactly what the fear is – never to see a loved one again because of the war, and that is why I head the Office for the Support of Families of Military Servicemen in the Lviv region.

At first, the idea of ​​creating such an Office was supported by my colleagues and friends – Olga Tsap, Yaroslav Zhukrovsky, Oleg Radik, Halyna Bordun, Ulyana Surmai, Vlastimira Shkribalo, and then the Lviv Regional Military Administration said: “This is important. Will you do it?”.

Without strategic sessions, long meetings and special funding – we just started to act. And already in a week in the premises of the Humanitarian Headquarters in Lviv on the street Kopernyka, 17, the first consultations took place. Since then, more than 1,500 defenders and their families from all over the country have received help from the Support Office. The model proposed by our team turned out to be effective, but more on that later.

“mom i’m alive”

One day, an extremely confused woman contacted the Support Office – her son is “at zero” and she has not been in touch with him for ten days. “What to do, where to run?” – she just burst into tears… Our consultant Pavlo is also a soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I found out – the guys are on task, all goals.

After some time, the woman called us with words of sincere gratitude: “My son was found, he called, said, ‘Mom, I’m alive.'” .

” – My son is in captivity!

– Congratulations!”

We have never met in person, but for several months in a row the Support Office has been in contact with the mother of a soldier from the Rivne region, who received a notification that her son was on the missing persons list back in the summer. The woman was in such despair that she was going to go to the front line in search of her son.

What can the Support Office do? The consultants provided psychological support, a database of useful contacts, and helped prepare the necessary legal appeals. We are in constant contact. And recently, news arrived that the boy may be in captivity. In my wildest dreams, I could not have imagined that one day I would happily greet someone’s mother with such bitter news.

Unfortunately, more than 30% of appeals to the Support Office come from the families of the missing, captured and dead. But at the slightest hope, we set people up to believe in a miracle.

So, in the summer, we were approached by the families of female military medics. After the tragic events in Mariupol, the women simply disappeared. There was no official information for three months. Their families moved to Lviv as IDPs, and that’s how they got to us. We raised everyone to the mountain – military, government officials, people’s deputies.

As a result, the Support Office is concerned not only with reestablishing communication with more than 30 such families with the relevant military units, but also with establishing that female military medics are in captivity. This is about the same miracle, because the girls got into the exchange program and are already undergoing rehabilitation at home.

“There is no body – never mind”

An elderly woman fell into a real stupor when, turning to one of the local officials for help, because her son probably died, but there is no body, she heard in response: “There is no body – there is nothing to do.” Later, one of the neighbors told me the phone number of the Support Office. And we are also in touch with this mother all the time. Unfortunately, the worst came true – a military man was recently buried with honor in his native village… Glory to the heroes!

It’s unfortunate, but the Support Office receives many complaints about the insolent treatment of our defenders and their families. Either the driver kicks Hero’s widow out of the minibus because he “didn’t send him there,” or the company that had fun in the bathhouse during the curfew breaks into the house of a soldier who is now defending Ukraine in the middle of the night. The wife and little daughter still cannot recover. And here is a huge respect for our lawyers who help people in all life situations.

“We will come to you again!” – the daughter of the fallen hero

In July 2022, the family of the fallen Hero of the ZSU Andriy Savenka from Sloviansk – his mother Olena and five children – contacted the Support Office. They need housing, legal and psychological support.

The team of the Lviv Road Service was one of the first to respond. During the charity football tournament, the road workers collected 70 thousand hryvnias. With these funds, the family was able to rent a house. The children are still working with our psychologists, and lawyers accompany the family in all legal matters. And there are many such stories.

Recently, the father of a military serviceman contacted us – he wrote a letter. The son is on the front line, and he, already an elderly man, was hospitalized – his leg was amputated. And now I have to get home somehow (to the 3rd floor without an elevator) and move around the house.

It’s cool that there are many friends in the Office. I called Natalia Shelestak – and grandfather has a cart. Thanks for this CF Volunteering and Help Center. Grandfather was touched. And the guys from the Lviv Oblast Highway Service transported my grandfather from the hospital to his apartment.

And about friends. Our team was sincerely surprised by distinguished guests who visited the Office and asked – how can we help? And they helped. Olena Zelenska, Kateryna Levchenko, Yulia Laputina – special thanks to you.

Victory in the simple things we do for each other every day.

And you can call us (+380682606815), come and write letters: Lviv, Kopernyka, 17

Anna Kuzyuta, coordinator of the Military Family Support Office, especially for the UP. Life

Cover photo: Nndanko/Depositphotos

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