Oleksandr
Oleksandr was born in Kherson. For five years before the full-scale invasion, he lived and worked in Kyiv. He spent the night of February 24th in a basement with friends, sheltering from the shelling. By morning, they decided to leave for a safer place. Initially, they planned to go to Ternopil, but they ended up in Lviv instead.
Immediately upon arrival, Oleksandr and his friend Serhiy—who is now the director of the foundation—began looking for ways to help. From their first days in Lviv, they joined another charity organization and started volunteering. It was there that they met most of the people who would later become part of S&P.
Oleksandr says that the first thing he will do after the war is over is go to Kherson, just like the rest of his family. He does not make plans for the future, as he is convinced that first we need to wait for victory, and only then think about what to do next. He also admits that after three years of volunteering, he has never once felt mentally or physically exhausted because he knows exactly why he is doing this and for whom.
The man jokes that you can’t burn out from volunteering, because every day there is something new, and you just don’t have time to get used to your role. But the most important thing is the team. Oleksandr says he could never work in a place where he felt uncomfortable, and luckily, that has never been an issue here.