Today I helped the August Mission team deliver a load of humanitarian aid goods to the Khmelnytskyi regional IDP humanitarian aid center. 

IDP stands for  “internally displaced person.” IDPs are people who have been driven from their homes because of some disaster or hardship, but remain within their home country. This is slightly different from refugees, who are people driven from their homes into a foreign country. The war in Ukraine has driven approximately a third of the population of Ukraine from their homes, millions of whom have fled to countries throughout Europe and around the globe. However, there are also millions of IDPs who have fled from eastern Ukraine and are sheltering in safer locations further from the front lines (although all of Ukraine is an active war zone because of Russia’s systematic use of missile strikes to destroy electrical power infrastructure across the nation, conditions closer to the front lines are certainly much more dangerous than locations further west).

There are about 200,000 IDPs living in the Khmelnytski region.  The Khmelnytski region had a pre-war population of approximately 1,200,000, and the city of Khmelnytski (the seat of government for the region) had a pre-war population of approximately 250,000.  

Most of the IDPs who have found haven in Khmelnytski are housed in private residences. Some stay with friends or family, others rent space. Many are also housed in hotels or hostels that cater to tourism during peaceful times, and would otherwise be unoccupied now.

The Khmelnytskyi regional IDP aid center is located in the municipal performing arts center in the city of Khmelnytskyi.  While the first floor lobby and main theater space are being used for aid logistics, school children continue to take dance and drama lessons on the second floor.

Although the aid center does not provide housing or living quarters, it is open during regular business hours to all IDPs registered within the Khmelnytski region.  The center distributes donated food and clothing to the IDPs it serves.

August Mission’s delivery today included powdered baby formula, feminine hygiene products, used clothing, several baby cribs, a couple of cots and some ambulatory safety “walkers”.  August Mission delivers to the Khmelnytski regional IDP aid center frequently, depending on availability of aid goods.  August Mission has a rotation of about 8 different IDP aid centers, including churches and hospitals, that it delivers to in the Khmelnytskyi area. 

The goods August Mission delivered today were donated by people in Poland and other countries in Europe and also North America.  

For example, the baby formula, manufactured in the Netherlands, is part of a shipment of $30,000 worth of baby formula that August Mission is distributing in Ukraine on behalf of a Polish donor.

The walkers, baby cribs and used clothing were sent in a NuDay container.  NuDay is a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit working to secure dignified and empowered aid for women and children affected by humanitarian crises worldwide. For the past ten years, NuDay has been supporting vulnerable women and children in Syria, Lebanon and now Ukraine. Every month, NuDay packs a shipping container aid items donated by households in the U.S. and ships it to global trouble spots like Ukraine. August Mission is partnering with NuDay to distribute much of this humanitarian aid in Ukraine.