We prepare 500 lunches for needy Ukrainians free of charge every day

Hello, my name is Olexander Tyshchuk and I am a founder and CEO of a catering company in Lviv, Ukraine. 

 

We completely shut down our successful business on 24 February when Russia waged a war against my country. Since then we only focus on cooking and delivering at least 500 meals a day to internally displaced Ukrainians, our law enforcement (police and territorial defence forces) and volunteers.

 

Please allow me to show you how we do it, what we cook and what changes we would need to male to increase the number of free meals to 1,500 a day. I will also explain why we need to raise additional funds.

 

How it became technically possible:

First of all, I want to thank everyone who has already joined as a volunteer who prepares food. It is thanks to them that it has become possible to implement such a plan in a warring country where business is virtually paralyzed. Of course, it would not be possible to do this without those people who help with money, food and deliver food for free. It is a great honor and respect for all of you, because you are doing all this with one goal - Ukrainians need to win this unprovoked and unfair war against Russia.

 

What we cook:

• first courses

• second courses

• salads

• side dishes

We believe it is extremely important that people who have lost their homes, some of whom have not eaten for days while arriving in Lviv, are finally able to eat warm food. This was especially true because of the weather in our country. At the time of the attack, the average daily temperature was around 32°F. Therefore, warm food was a matter of life and death.

 

How we transport the meals:

We use only reusable professional thermal utensils to transport the meals. We do not use disposables, as you can see in most volunteer organizations around the world. And I will explain to you why.

 

The number one reason is the cost of thermal containers. For example, a thermo cup for airtight transportation of soup in Ukraine costs around 7-9 UAH, depending on the quality and capacity, which is equivalent to $0.2-$0.3. This sometimes implies that the packaging for transportation can sometimes be more expensive than the cost of a soup made of seasonal vegetables. This allows us to make more meals at the same cost.

 

Professional thermo boxes make it possible to keep food really hot for hours, which in turn allows you to transport long distances and save on logistics.

 

For salads, we also use gn1 / 1 standard gastro containers, which we believe are the best choice for transportation. As for the first dishes, we have two types of hot pots - for civilian consumers and special forces. Larger containers do not only keep the temperature, but also have the ability to be (re)-heated on an open fire.

 

Why we need funds:

 

We predict that for quite some time to come, tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of IDPs who have chosen Lviv will not be able to return home and will not be able to earn money for their basic needs. To understand the general picture of the catastrophe that is happening in Ukraine, about 9 million people have been officially forced to leave their place of permanent residence. And all of them need food to survive.

 

We need funds for our project primarily to purchase ingredients for cooking and pay for utility bills. We also need to buy more equipment for cooking and transportation which would help us increase the volumes. We also understand the need to be able to pay at least the minimum salaries to the people who are working with me. They will soon run out of their savings and will not be able to contribute the same amount of their time to volunteering. But they only need the basic income to be able to look after their families and pay the bills.

 

I really believe that what we are doing is a wonderful thing that should be continued until we finally win this war and people can return home. But until then, we have to work even harder and your support is needed as never before.