Hi everyone! I’m sure that now many of you are volunteering in some form, and definitely, some have never done it before. My name is Roman Perepichka, I am a Project coordinator of the SoftServe Open Eyes Charity Fund . The idea of becoming a social worker isn't new for me — my father used to give lessons on driving theory to persons with disabilities. After visiting one of the lessons, I got curious about helping people. Later I decided to study social work at university and eventually joined SoftServe and the Open Eyes Charity Fund.

I joined the fund in 2018 but its story goes back to 2014, the year of the russian occupation of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea. Then many of our colleagues teamed up to purchase and transport all needed help to our army. That huge energy, the spirit of collaboration, and strong desire to help marked the beginning of our charity fund “Open Eyes”. After that the fund has implemented countless projects in Lviv, Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Ivano-o-Frankivsk, Rivne, Chernivtsi and even Wroclaw. That energy also helped us to go through the COVID-19 pandemic and support many people and organizations. Keeping the focus on army, we also targeted our efforts towards healthcare, education, infrastructure projects, and those I’m proud the most of — projects aimed to help our colleagues or their children with medical treatment.

Having that valuable experience of work in different crisis situations, I’d like to share it with you. Let’s talk about charity, tackling the stress and pressure of such work, and how to cope with such hard times we have today.

Since the war broke out

On February 24, when russia invaded Ukraine, I had two backpacks packed. One was with documents, money in cash, some meds, and other useful things. The other one was for two laptops. I wanted to know that wherever I would go, I could still work. Funnily enough, I didn't pack anything to wear in those backpacks. I believe I'll care even less about the clothes after the war. At a time like this, you understand that having a peaceful minute with coffee in the morning is more valuable than any material thing.

Before the war, I visited my parents every weekend, you know, it’s a kind of family tradition. Well, for the last five weeks I have seen them only once. Not that I didn't want to, I just didn't have time even though they live 20 minutes from me. Sometimes I left work 15 minutes before the curfew, so I had to run back home.

Talking about the work process reminds me of the situation during the first COVID breakout. Then, our team worked 24/7 without sleep to do as much as possible: find, buy and transfer all the necessities to help our people. Same here — we work day and night, but because our foreign suppliers do sleep, it allows us to rest as well. 

Doing charity during the war

Charity is a vast concept, and I guess everyone has their own understanding of it. As for me, it's a big part of my life. Since childhood, I personally thought about it as social equity. Well, at that time, I used to call it justice. People have different circumstances and opportunities, and I thought it was unfair. So, for me, charity is about bringing more justice to these people. Being able to make a difference is what motivates me in this work, and motivation is crucial for handling multiple projects at once, as we often do.

Our warriors fight for our land, so we have no other choice but to support them as much as we can. But, of course, it was sudden, and no one was prepared for the war. That's why we had to react quickly, and now we're doing our best to help.

To be honest, I believe that in such critical situations, SoftServe values shine brighter. The synergy between our teams, as that's not only about Ukraine, there are hundreds of our colleagues here and abroad who volunteered to help. In Poland, for example, we work nonstop, packing and sorting all the stuff we order, from first aid kits to gloves. Hundreds of our colleagues have joined the fund in its effort to help — there are teams working on logistics, purchasing, financial questions, marketing, communications, etc. Even though some haven’t met before, all are working so well as one team that I have a feeling we’ve been doing it together for years. People, you are incredible!

How not burn out?

Motivation is the key. Recently, news about the missile strike on the Yavoriv military base demoralized me. But later that day, we shared updates on a daily sync, colleagues from Poland sent pics from the warehouse with humanitarian aid, crisis management started working. Of course, the news about the strike was terrible, but I couldn't do anything about it, so I'd better focus on what I can do. This feeling of control and making a difference helps me relieve stress.

The first thing I’d recommend for those who feel they burn out is to take care of themselves first. As they say before the takeoff on a plane: put your own oxygen mask on first before helping someone else. A volunteer should sleep enough and remember to eat and drink enough water. I do my best to follow this advice, but I have special relations with sleep. For me, it is more important to wake up simultaneously than to sleep a set amount of time, so I follow my feelings to manage my wellbeing.

The second piece of advice is to make sure that you and your relatives and friends are safe. Always maintain contact with your closest people to lower your anxiety level.

The third is to understand the harsh truth. You can't help everyone. It is great that people want to do this, but it is impossible and leads to fast burnout. It is better to focus on smaller goals to achieve more in this situation. 

Also, don't forget to celebrate every achievement, no matter how small it seems. There is no insignificant help right now. Everything you do matters.

And finally, do what you know best. Nowadays, there are a ton of unconventional ways to volunteer. Take Jamala's example. She's a singer, so she did what she could do best to raise money. Some people sew T-shirts, others coordinate multiple projects, others join the so-called IT army, and it's great that you can do what you love and help to save our country at the same time. I see that Ukrainians now all work in synergy and that our colleagues manage to work full-time and are still willing to volunteer. It’s a huge inspiration and with such people on our side, we will undoubtedly win!

Take care and stay safe!

If you want to support Ukraine, please use the following links:

for Ukraine
for Europe and USA