Over 11 500 people are working in SoftServe in Ukraine – from Lviv to Kharkiv, from Kyiv to Odesa. The war has turned their lives upside down. And yet, despite all its horror, it has also shown us and the entire world how Ukrainians can unite and help each other in hard times.  

In almost every SoftServe team, someone helps in some way: donates money or serves in our Armed Forces, cooks for the territorial defense or delivers humanitarian aid, develops technical solutions for volunteers or simply continues stable work that supports our economy. Every, even a little help gets us closer to victory. In this article, we're sharing the stories of our three co-workers who are volunteering for Ukraine.  

Roman Savka, Accessibility QA Engineer

Heads PO "Equal Opportunities for All" and helps people with disabilities 

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I work as an Accessibility QA Engineer in SoftServe. It's a relatively new approach in the company – in July, it'll only reach two years in use. We have a great, cheerful team. Some of my colleagues, just like me, have a visual impairment. Yet, in SoftServe, we feel at home – it's an inclusive and socially responsible company. What's more, I'm crazy about what I do. 

Social work has been my second job profile for a while. When I was 23, I got a visual impairment and understood that we lack a system of social interaction for people who become disabled in adulthood. That's why, for over ten years, I've been the head of a separate division of the "Ukrainian Partnership of the Blind" All-Ukrainian public organization in the Lviv region. Also, a little bit over two years ago, I founded the "Equal Opportunities for All" organization in which a volunteering team works with people of different types of nosology disabilities. 

During the war, the number of tasks in both organizations has increased as many people with disabilities lack rehabilitation, or technical mobility means such as canes, wheelchairs, and crutches. On the third day of the war, we received the first request from a family from Chuhuiv that needed a wheelchair for a seven-year-old child with cerebral palsy. 

Besides, we help with numerous other issues. For example, once, we got a request from a young man who got a visual impairment because of an illness but didn't manage to get a certificate of disability in time. We helped him get it, and he's successfully crossed the board.  

We have a well-coordinated team, allowing us to combine volunteering with one's job. The most important thing for that is to know how to delegate one's responsibilities and distribute the load correctly. We have people responsible for logistics and transportation, psychologists, lawyers, social educators, and professionals in other fields.   

My essential job is to keep an eye on all processes, coordinate assistance, and find the necessary means. I've been hosting lots of people and different animals during the last month – dogs, cats, turtles, and guinea pigs. I've transferred my family abroad, and since then, my apartment has partially become an office, storehouse, and living space for forcibly displaced people. 

Despite my 10-years long experience in social work, now, I face situations that are hard to handle from a psychological point of view. 

ROMAN SAVKA | Accessibility QA Engineer

At some point, we were visited by a woman who, together with her family, spent two weeks under shelling. She was getting a wheelchair for her child and refused when I offered her more help though she had nothing.  

What inspires me? I know that my family is safe, and it makes me do the things they get abroad. They were welcomed, and my older son is already visiting a Polish kindergarten. I want to pay for this and give people here things that my children are offered there. What's more, understanding that you're helping those in need is very inspiring.  

If everyone does their job in their place, they advance our victory. Unfortunately, I can't hold a weapon, shoot, and fight back, although I am a reserve officer and have some knowledge. One should be in the right place and help as much as one can – and this is how we win.  

Kostiantyn Huk, Software Engineer

Was searching for missing children; now is helping refugees 

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The story of my volunteering started in 2014. I went to Kyiv as a paramedic and helped people with injuries of varying severity at Maidan. After that, as the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) started, I decided to refresh these skills and passed several courses in the first aid. Now, I teach those eager to apply harnesses and turnstiles, transport victims, and coordinate people during emergencies.   

In 2017, after my daughter was born, I joined the "Search for Missing Children in Dnipro" volunteer group. We help to spread information about missing children, prepare their descriptions, and get directly engaged in the search in case of a corresponding request from the police.    

Until February 24 this year, I regularly participated in search expeditions together with fellow volunteers. But after the war began, our organization has immediately reshaped to help forcibly displaced people and the defenders. Our volunteering group organized two humanitarian aid warehouses and two resettlement locations for forcibly displaced people. We posted announcements on social media, and citizens started reaching out to us and asking how they could help on the very first day.  

We don't raise money for our volunteering and cover all the needs by ourselves. The only exception was made in the first week of the war when we asked for financial support of about 12-15 thousand UAH. We needed this money for fuel for transportation because there were lots of trips in a short time.  

I'm not the only one volunteering in our family; we're doing it together with my wife. She cooks dishes from the products that people bring to us.  

During the first days of the war, we had cooked and delivered about 300 kg of dishes for a battalion that was going to war.  

KOSTIANTYN HUK | Software Engineer

I do transportation, for instance, pick people up at the railway station and drive them to the needed locations and deliver goods. I've also organized temporary housing for forcibly displaced people in a kindergarten building. 

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When I brought my family to Lviv, I decided not to go back without some goods. I was lucky to find about 400 kg of dog food for a shelter. One of our volunteering organization members is known in Dnipro for her animal rights activism. So, when I told her I was leaving Lviv, she found the food that I later delivered to the animals.    

I'm lucky that my wife fully shares my desire to help people. When the war started, we concluded that we'd both have joined the territorial defense forces if it weren't for our daughter. However, our main task is to be good parents, so currently, my wife and child are staying in a safe place, and I'm helping people for the two of us.     

I also feel great support from the company. I'm used to combining my volunteering and job, participating in search operations at night. Yet, we often have to help during the daytime, but my PM and team know about my volunteering and have my back when needed. I'm also ready to help them. This support means a lot to me. 

Ihor Burenko

Created a chatbot for coordination of volunteering headquarters in Odesa

My name is Ihor Burenko, and I am a Software Engineer from Odesa. I'm working in a team that develops a product in the medical insurance field. What I've always liked about my job is that I can help people by writing code.

After the war escalated, the desire to help others became stronger, so I looked for ways to bring value. A humanitarian center was created under the Odesa regional administration, and my wife was offered to lead its press service. Hundreds of compassioned people started writing and calling it immediately. They wanted to help, send money, and volunteer. There were many such questions, and answering them took a lot of time and effort. I understood that this was an issue that I could resolve by developing a technical solution to automate the work of the headquarters. 

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I've got an idea to create a chatbot that anyone interested could use to quickly and conveniently learn how they can help. I built a team of four people: myself as a lead developer, a business analyst, and two testers.   

The development of the chatbot, from the idea to the implementation of its first version, took us one day. We worked at night, too, because human lives could depend on the efficiency of the center's work. We were so focused and motivated that we didn't notice time passing, even though the bot was developed in extreme conditions.

At the beginning of the shelling in Kyiv, our business analyst moved to the Kyiv region, but soon after that, the shelling started there as well. Her access to the internet was unstable, she faced power outages but kept working on our project even in such conditions. She completed most of the work in a bomb shelter. That was her first IT job, and she handled this combat debut excellently.  

Now, the bot has two key functions – you can provide information about the current needs of volunteering organizations and learn about how you can be useful and help physically. We're constantly in touch with the headquarters and regularly refresh information in the bot with the updates we get from our volunteers. We are planning to add information for those who'd like to donate from abroad. Besides, we want to develop similar chatbots for other regions. 

The bot already has about two thousand users. People want to help and bring value.  

I've decided that for me, the most efficient way to help is by using my professional knowledge and skills. I strongly hope that this bot helps other people understand how they can be useful.

IHOR BURENKO | Software Engineer

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