Estonian NGO announces fundraiser to buy portable gas stoves for residents in Ukraine

TALLINN – Herojam Slava, an Estonian non-governmental organization (NGO) established to help provide assistance to Ukraine, has started collecting money to buy gas stoves and cylinders for residents of the Kherson, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine.

The goal is to acquire and deliver sets of two-burner gas stoves and gas cylinders to a thousand families, complete with installation, as part of a project titled "Hot food in the cold winter." The total size of the project's budget, which includes money for the purchase of a van for the delivery of the sets, is 154,000 euros, a representative of the NGO said on Thursday.

"Residents in Europe will not face a cold winter, even though Russia is using energy resources as a weapon. In Ukraine, however, Russia is using real weapons, and every day Russian missiles are flying in the Ukrainian skies, aimed to damage as many lives as possible through real cold and water shortages this coming winter," Jaanika Merilo, co-founder of Herojam Slava, said.

She said that to date, Russian missiles have destroyed or damaged as much as 40 percent of critical infrastructure -- thermal energy stations, gas and water supply infrastructure, and bombings continue. Many Ukrainians do not want to leave their homes despite these hardships. 

"We are asking you to help 1,000 families get gas stoves and cylinders so that they can at least have hot food in the cold winter in Kherson, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which is receiving huge numbers of refugees, and in Kharkiv next to the border. For every 150 euros collected, one family will get a gas stove and a gas cylinder, delivered directly to the home by volunteers and local authorities," Merilo said.

Donations can be made via the website at www.heroiamslava.org .

The previous project of the NGO Herojam Slava was aimed at raising money for a set of two C VTOL Eos reconnaissance drones manufactured by Estonian company Threod. With the help of almost 1,200 residents and the manufacturer, the drones have been built and handed over to the Ukrainian special operations forces, their operators have undergone three weeks of training and are back in Ukraine.