As always, all comers were welcome to sign postcards for Ukrainian soldiers and donate useful things for them, including insoles, balaclavas, thermoses, socks, and blankets. We saw fewer donations this time, but several important postcards signed by children made their way to our box.
For example, Natalia Nesterenko came to the Christmas Arsenal with her two daughters. All members of this merry trio signed postcards for Ukrainian soldiers. “We are helping soldiers to the best of our abilities. I have written letters, sent money, and collected clothes for them,” Nesterenko told us. “These postcards provide sense to their lives, enable our soldiers to understand why they fight in eastern Ukraine. We should understand their situation: peaceful drivers, cooks, managers have been snatched from their jobs and dragged to this hell. They need to understand why they fight, and these postcards explain our boys for whom they do it.”
Schoolgirl Anna Nesterenko, Natalia’s daughter, added: “It is hard to look at the horrors of war on TV. I pray for our soldiers in the anti-terrorist operation area, who fight for our freedom, every day. I wish for these boys to return home soon, to be healthy and happy. Let them know that every Ukrainian awaits them, cares for them. We all help our guys morally and financially, by the word of prayer and by donating necessities.” The girl maintains that it is quite easy to come up with words to put on a postcard, but they must come from the heart. “If you sincerely wish all the best, you realize that you have done a good thing which will really help our boys. I think the best support for our soldiers is some precious message from their relatives, like a notelet or a little postcard describing all the love this particular soldier’s family has for him. Such help is even more useful than some garments, even though both are important.”
The postcard initiative has involved our regular readers as well. “I have signed a postcard for a soldier for the first time, wishing him to win and return alive and well. There are many ways to support our boys. They need moral support, our energy flowing to them more than anything. Material support with necessities is another way to help them. Den’s event is a double display of attention which combines both ways of helping our soldiers,” Ivan Ivaniuta believes, having read Den for 10 years. “I regularly buy fresh issues of your newspaper at a newsstand, for I like thorough and sharp contributions by Serhii Hrabovsky, Ihor Losiev, Igor Siundiukov. I look forward to the weekend, when I get to buy a double Friday issue of Den and get emotionally recharged. I buy books from Den’s Library series as well, and have almost all of them at home. Your photographer Ruslan Kaniuka took a picture of me at the presentation of ‘Subversive Literature’ collection, and I have kept the issue with this photograph ever since.”
Many people are tired of this difficult year, some are already focused on preparations for the winter holidays, but it is important to remember our defenders every day. Warm words and garments become elements of home comfort at the front, strongly supporting Ukrainian soldiers. Therefore, we thank participants of our event. We will send all postcards and necessities we have collected to frontline troops serving in Luhansk region before December 29.
We invite all those who were unable to take part in our event to bring warm clothes to Den’s office, located at 121D Peremohy Avenue, on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Soldiers need woolen blankets, plaids, sweaters, socks, dark-colored fleece or wool caps, gloves, balaclavas, underwear, warm underpants, and warm insoles of different sizes, cold medicines, universal protective creams, chapsticks, thermoses, winter and fall tourist sleeping bags, dry fuel, and sweet food like nuts, halva, condensed milk and so on.
