A heartwarming meeting, awarding of volunteers and tireless restoration of seven oblasts of the country: this was the week of Dobrobat

Hours, days, weeks, months of the urgent restoration of hundreds of facilities, help to thousands of Ukrainians, smiles and gratitude - this is how the year of volunteering at Dobrobat was remembered. Between reconstruction and site visits, we find time to thank each other for our joint achievements and recharge our batteries to have the strength to rebuild the country.

Last week, more than 130 volunteers cleared rubble and repaired damaged homes in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. In the Kyiv oblast, they cleared construction debris from the house of a retired couple from Makariv. In Irpin, we helped two families repair their roofs. We repaired the roof boarding at one of the facilities and installed metal tiles with components on the house extension. The volunteers replaced the broken slate in another pensioner's house, hit by an enemy mine in March. In addition, they repaired the rafters, wall plate and roofing boards.

In addition, they continued the urgent restoration of a multi-storey building in Dymer. The building was damaged by blast waves after enemy "strikes" at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Last week, Dobrobat's team repaired the destroyed parts of the roofing and rafters and replaced the broken slate, 80 sheets in total. They also partially repaired the drainage system and two ventilation shafts.

In the Chernihiv oblast, for the third time, volunteers visited the crash site of the russian plane that had bombed the city. The plane hit a residential building back in March. The ruins of the house and the wreckage of the bomber remained uncleared. This time, special equipment was used to remove the plane's remains from the rubble.

Dobrobat members of the Kharkiv branch visited the village of Malynivka in Chuhuiv oblast. There, they arranged windows in a three-story house destroyed in the summer during active hostilities in the oblast. Since people now live there, a group of volunteers covered about 25 windows with a protective film to make the residents more comfortable until new double-glazed windows are installed.

Mykolaiv volunteers repaired the roofs of two houses. In Prybuzke, they helped reconstruct a house damaged by cluster shelling: they partially repaired the rafters, completely replaced the slate and shored up the roof ridge. In Ukrainka village, they helped a retired couple who had been injured. The enemy's "strike" had demolished the roof of their house entirely, partially breaking the beams and ceiling coverings. The volunteers dismantled the broken boards, partially replaced the rafters and covered the roof with new slate so the owners could continue rebuilding and return home.

Volunteers travelled to Posad-Pokrovske village in the Kherson region, where almost all the houses were destroyed. The volunteers helped one of their residents. They dismantled the rubble, sorted bricks for further use in reconstruction and dismantled the garage roof.

In Zaporizhzhia, a team of volunteers cleaned up the aftermath of enemy rocket attacks in November. Dobrobat, together with the Cobra emergency rescue service and utilities, cleared the remains of the destroyed entrance of an apartment building, removing the building debris. They also continued the urgent restoration of an apartment where a single father and his daughter live. Earlier, the volunteers dismantled the windows. Now they have installed new entrance and interior doors in the apartment.

In addition to the reconstruction, Dobrobat summed up the results of the urgent restoration of the country in 2022 last week. It also recognized the most active volunteers of the construction battalions. Volunteers, partners and media ambassadors came together to thank each other for their cooperation and mutual assistance in our common cause. More than 70 volunteers from 7 oblasts where the reconstruction is underway were recognized for their maximum involvement in the reconstruction process by receiving letters of appreciation and badges of honour from Dobrobat. Our media ambassadors Vitaliy Borysyuk, Masha Kondratenko, Kolaba and Spiv Brativ bands also added to the mood of the meeting with their performances.

Shoulder to shoulder, we move toward reconstruction!

Together we can do more!