How Compassion Changes Lives in Wartime Ukraine
Dear Sisters of the Ukrainian Catholic Women’s League of Canada,
From my heart, and from the heart of a nation at war, thank you for giving me the chance to speak to you; not only as a woman born in Canada, but as one who has made Ukraine her home for nearly two decades. I came here because of dance. What began as rhythm and movement became roots, friendships, and a profound sense of belonging. When the bombs began to fall, leaving was never an option.
What started with a small carload of aid in early 2022 has since become Ukrainian Patriot, a global family of more than one hundred local and international volunteers, along with countless local partners working across Ukraine. We are ordinary people doing extraordinary things, together. Through every act of compassion, we keep the light of dignity and hope alive in the midst of war’s darkness.
The Reality for Women and Children
There is no gentle way to describe the suffering that continues to unfold here. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, more than 6.7 million women and girls in Ukraine are in need of humanitarian assistance. Over 1.8 million have been forced from their homes, carrying what they can on their backs with children in their arms. Tens of thousands of women have become widows. Each of them carries not only grief, but the heavy responsibility of survival.
More than 13,000 children are now orphaned or separated from their parents. Others live with the constant terror of air raid sirens and explosions. Many spend nights in corridors, stairwells, and basements. These are meant to be “safe places” that never truly feel safe.
In winter, as power outages will soon start to sweep across the country, schoolchildren try to do their lessons by flashlight. Entire regions will soon sit in darkness for hours or days at a time. Teachers carry on through cold, candlelight, and fear. These interruptions are not just about electricity; they are about opportunity, about an entire generation’s education hanging in the balance.
As Canadians, you have the privilege of being protected from such daily terror. Yes, you have challenges of your own, but you don’t fall asleep wondering if your home will still be standing when you wake. That difference — between safety and survival — is one no woman or child should ever have to face. And yet, millions do.
The Five Pillars of Ukrainian Patriot
When Ukrainian Patriot was born, we knew our mission could not be narrow. The wounds of war are too deep, too complex. Since the very beginning, our work has stood on five pillars, each representing a piece of what it takes to help people not only live, but live with dignity.
-
Humanitarian Aid
At the heart of everything we do is the delivery of food, hygiene supplies, warm clothing, generators, and essentials to families in need. We reach frontline villages and recently liberated towns where other organisations sometimes cannot go. We also care for animals — those abandoned, injured, or orphaned, because they too are victims of war, and often the only source of comfort left to a family who has lost everything. -
Medical Support
We provide hospitals, stabilisation points, and medics with the supplies they desperately need: trauma kits, surgical equipment, medicines, and first aid. Many of these deliveries are made by volunteers who drive through danger to bring hope where it’s most needed. -
Protective Gear
Our teams have equipped countless first responders, defenders, and volunteers with helmets, vests, and safety tools; because saving lives should never mean losing your own. Even humanitarian workers are often targeted or caught in attacks, and this gear keeps them alive to continue their service. -
PTSD and Trauma Care
War does not end when the guns fall silent, but lingers in the mind and heart. To this end, we partner with Ukrainian psychologists, dance therapists, and community leaders to help women, children, and our veterans begin to heal. Movement, music, and connection remind people that they are still human, still whole, even after unimaginable loss. -
Rebuilding and Renewal
Where homes are destroyed, we rebuild. Where schools are damaged, we repair. Our volunteers have helped restore classrooms, repair roofs, and bring life back to villages once thought lost. Rebuilding is not only physical, it is spiritual. It says: “We are still here. We will not be erased.”
Stories of Light
One of our volunteers, Natalia, runs a small hub in Orlyvschyna. She was once displaced herself – an internally displaced person from Kharkiv, forced to flee with nothing. Today, she is part of our team, helping to deliver aid to hundreds of families, including many widows raising children alone. She does this with her dog, Angel, who comforts traumatised children and helps them smile again.
In places like Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk regions, Ukrainian Patriot has reached over fifty communities. We have delivered thousands of food packages, medical kits, and supplies. We have supported hospitals, orphanages, animal shelters, and schools. And behind every number is a name, a face, a story of survival. Like Natalia.
Why Your Support Matters
The Ukrainian Catholic Women’s League of Canada has always embodied faith in action, seeing Christ in those who suffer and serving with compassion. I ask you to see the women and children of Ukraine as part of that mission.
When you give to Ukrainian Patriot, your gift does not disappear into bureaucracy. It goes directly into the hands of volunteers who know their communities, who deliver aid themselves, who document every life touched. A single donation can feed a family for a week, provide medicine to a wounded child, or bring light — literally, through generators and candles — to those sitting in darkness.
You would be amazed how far one act of generosity can go in a war zone. A $100 donation can buy medical supplies that save lives. Five hundred dollars can help rebuild a damaged classroom. One thousand can provide months of food and hygiene products for widowed mothers and their children. Every gesture, no matter the size, becomes part of a larger miracle.
The Strength of Compassion
In times like these, compassion is not weakness, it is strength. It is resistance to hatred and despair. It is how we remind ourselves and the world that humanity still matters.
Our volunteers come from everywhere: Canada, the U.S., the U.K., across Europe, Australia, and, of course, Ukraine. They give their time, their energy, and often their own money. They are teachers, dancers, doctors, mothers, students: ordinary people doing sacred work.
A Final Reflection
Every night, I hear the sirens. I see the faces of mothers cradling sleeping children in cold shelters. I see the eyes of soldiers’ widows, brave and hollow all at once. And yet, every day, I also see light. I see women who have lost everything but still give what little they can to others. I see children drawing pictures of peace. I see volunteers loading vans with food, laughter in their throats despite the fear.
That is what Ukrainian Patriot stands for: the belief that even in the darkest night, light is possible. And that light grows every time someone, somewhere, chooses to care.
From one Canadian-born woman to another, I ask you: walk with us. Pray for us. Support us. Stand for those who cannot stand alone. Together, we can make sure that amid all the ruins, something beautiful endures.
With gratitude,
Lana Nicole Niland
Founder & CEO, Ukrainian Patriot
—
This article was originally published in the December 2025 edition of Nasha Doroha.