“Ants” kitchen - providing nutritious meals to the Troops
Kyiv Kitchen Hub Ants was founded by Kostyantyn and Oksana Ovcharenko on February 25, 2022, just days after the Russian invasion. Initially, they focused on helping civilians and the military with various urgent needs. However, as the situation evolved, the demand for ready-made meals decreased, and the need for dry rations grew. They recognized this shift in March 2022 and dedicated themselves to this mission.
Ants founder Kostyantyn (in green) with several of the volunteers. Many are war refugees themselves, who work full-time jobs to make ends meet in addition to volunteering here. Several ex-pats are also a core part of the team.
Traditionally, a lot of military rations in Ukraine have been canned. But these can be quite heavy for someone who has to run full-speed to a trench with several days’ provisions in tow.
Today, Kyiv Kitchen Hub "Ants" plays a vital role in providing meals to around 10,000 soldiers who lack the facilities to cook. These soldiers can now enjoy a nutritious daily diet with just a mug and hot water. Every month, the organization produces and distributes 10,000 servings of first and second courses, along with breakfast cereals and 10,000 servings of galettes (a French flatbread / savoury crepe).
Relying on simple, nutritious ingredients and volunteer labour, the cost per serving can be as low as 10 US cents.
Preparing ingredients for drying
If you will have a spare day or three in Kyiv, do volunteer as I did. Just double-click on the hotlink above for detailed info.
You will find many other volunteering opportunities here.
Me peeling beets. They will go into a veggie chopper and then be laid out on grates in an industrial dryer, for inclusion in a wide variety of meals.
In addition to vegetable soup, the menu today included a special treat — cookies. In the background you can see my new friend and fellow Londoner Patrick, who told me about this place. We met on my second night in the hostel; he helped me find my way in Kyiv, and I translated for him when he signed an apartment lease. The rental agent was very surprised to hear we had just met, he assumed we were childhood mates.
This was the last day at work for the guy at left, who was returning home to Canada after volunteering for several months here. It was an emotional farewell.
This was taken on Monday, 26 May. Virtually everyone had been awake for over 72 hours, due to relentless Russian air raids for 3 nights straight (Putin especially loves to bomb on weekends, for some reason.) My friend Patrick (next to me) and I had a bomb shelter in our hostel where we could cat-nap, and people in the city centre can run to metro stations, but out here on the Left Bank of the Dnipro, very little is bomb-proof. I was amazed at how cheerful and positive they all were, doing their bit to keep the troops fed.
Kostyantyn being interviewed about the charity. Over the past 3 years, the charity has developed considerable resources and expertise in customs clearance, warehousing and transportation all over Ukraine, and the charity is ready to support private clients in this area. They can also help you line up accomodation and whatever services or rental equipment you may need.
If interested, contact me at lorengerl@gmail.com, or Kostan directly here.