Elitexpert continues the series of interviews with the participants of the second charity festival-auction "Volunteer Amulet". Today's interlocutor is Iryna Klimenko, who represents the well-known international project "Food for Life" in Odessa.
We talked with her about the importance of humanitarian aid, vegetarianism and the culture of social responsibility of business, as well as about the large-scale activities of this project and the existing problems of the volunteer sector, and, of course, about plans for the future.
How did you create your fund and what is the main activity of the "Food Life Odesa" project?
"Food for life" is an international movement that provides humanitarian aid in the form of food distribution in difficult situations, such as war, but not only. It works around the world when there is a need - in case of any emergency, earthquakes, floods, etc., and when the situation improves, then these points are closed.
It should be noted that all "Food for life" in different countries operate independently of each other. In Ukraine, there are such organizations in large cities — Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Lviv, and, of course, in front-line cities such as Kharkiv, Nikopol, and Kherson.
When the war started in February 2022, my husband and I at first could not believe that such a thing was possible in our time, and we were not ready for it. But they quickly realized that it was necessary to act. We decided to help refugees who fled the war in eastern Ukraine through Odesa, for example, from Mariupol and other eastern cities. Already on March 1, we opened a hot food distribution point at the Odesa railway station for people who were waiting for evacuation trains. And by the way, I will say that until that moment, we were engaged in completely different things: both I and my husband are designers by profession.
How many people were you able to feed during this time?
- Back then, we started with sixty servings - that was the maximum our pot could hold. At that time, in addition to us, there were several volunteer communities at the station that also fed the refugees. But now, two and a half years later, we are practically alone in this field.
I wonder what number you have reached now?
Already in December 2022, we reached the volume of 500 servings and rented premises on Uspenska Street, a former night club restaurant. We specifically looked for a place where we will cook in the center, as it was convenient for logistics, because all our distribution points are also in the central part of the city. Now we consistently distribute 500 portions every day from Monday to Friday, we have five dishes, all the food is vegetarian. Every day the menu is different, compiled for 5 days.
Our specificity is that we distribute only fresh food, that is, we do not leave anything for tomorrow. Everything we prepared, we distribute on the same day. We cook in the morning, and we need to distribute it all at lunch, because in the evening it will no longer be relevant. In this regard, we have complicated logistics, because we cannot first go to one point and then to another. We need to arrive at all points at the same time and start distributing food.
To whom and where do you currently distribute food?
First, we distribute food at the humanitarian headquarters, which moved from Richelievska to Vodoprovna. There, we provide assistance to forcibly displaced people with IDP certificates. We also feed people at the point near the 118th school, we feed basically everyone there. We also have a point on Olhivska where we distribute food mainly to pensioners.
And when Odesa is shelled, we also go to the places of arrivals and organize food distribution points there. We feed firefighters, rescuers, and the victims themselves. By the way, at first, no one, except us, was involved in this.
You mentioned that the food you offer is vegetarian. Why so?
The founder of this Food of Life project is Swami Srila Prabhupada, who also founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. According to his philosophy, violence begets more violence and, you know, most wars on Earth are caused by people killing animals.
Our volunteers are mainly vegetarians, and even if we are offered humanitarian aid with meat products, we do not work with it. In addition, when we work with vegetables and cereals, we avoid the risk of food spoilage and poisoning, which, as you understand, is very important for catering. It also promotes the popularization of vegetarian food.
And how did you come to vegetarianism yourself? Have you always been a vegetarian?
No, not always (laughs). I met my future husband, and he was already a vegetarian. In general, it was easy for me to give up meat, and now 15 years have passed since that moment... In addition, I want to say that it helped me personally to solve many health problems.
What is your general attitude towards the quality of food and its distribution in our society?
We are very concerned about the issue of competent distribution of food resources. It often happens that farmers simply throw away products. For example, I am faced with a situation when grown melons do not have time to reach the point of sale and are overripe - so they are simply thrown away, because no one needs them anymore. Such things happen everywhere, and we with the "Food of Life" project would like to somehow influence this distribution. We try to cooperate with agricultural entrepreneurs, we say to them: if you have any products left over, the expiration date of which is coming to an end, or leftover fruits and vegetables that you cannot sell and plan to throw away, then think that you can feed thousands with them people through organizations like ours.
And what are your other areas of work?
We are interested in developing such a direction as charitable corporates. We have already held several such events. This is when companies come to us, we cook something together, and then leave and distribute food. They see to whom it is intended, how this whole process is arranged. In such volunteer companies, we form a culture of social responsibility of business. Before the war, we practically did not have such a culture, and this is very important - when a company cares not only about profit, but also about some humanitarian initiative, be it helping people, children or animals.
We want to form this culture from the side of business, and for such assistance to be on a permanent basis. For example, allocating $500 to a humanitarian project every month, so that volunteers know that, for example, they have the opportunity to pay for electricity with this money, and spend the rest of the money on something else. We really want this situation to be systematic instead of one-time donations. Because no charity will be able to survive for long on donations alone.
How many volunteers do you have on your team and how do you recruit them?
We have about 120 volunteers, not all of them are active, but our backbone, on which the project rests, is about twenty volunteers who consistently perform their duties. Plus, we have a program, we accept foreign volunteers. In the summer, during the holidays, there were many people who help in the kitchen and go to distribute food. These are volunteers, mainly from England, Germany, Austria and a lot of Americans.
And finally, how do you see the future of your project?
We hope to be able to expand our programs and involve more people and resources over time. It is very important that humanitarian aid becomes more systematic and sustainable. And as for non-volunteer matters, maybe we will restore our own food establishment with vegetarian food.
Olena Ovchinnikova communicated
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