“There is a lot of corporate strategy in volunteering”: how the creative community of Kharkiv lives during the war

Soon, the French cinema night took place, and on 25 February, a creative advertising screening was planned. However, on 24 February, plans changed dramatically — a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began. The school office turned into a humanitarian aid warehouse, and the team changed their profiles.

Vasylisa Haidenko, mentor, lecturer, and communicator of the Baggage School of Marketing and Communication, is now involved in the ARTDACHA Charitable Foundation activities. Maks Burtsev, a co-founder of the school, is engaged in the Volonterska organisation activities. Nataliia Rudenko, director of the school, is involved in volunteering and looking for new formats of courses.

We talked with Vasylisa, Maks, and Nataliia about the first days of the war in Kharkiv, the decision to volunteer and mutual aid, and whether communication skills help them in daily work under fire. Read the story and donate to ARTDACHA Charitable Foundation and Volonterska organisation to support Kharkiv. 

On 28 February, when we came to Kharkiv, we immediately began to be on duty at the Everything for Victory Reception Centre near the regional state administration, which has been operating since 2014. We sorted things. Here, the residents were bringing food and warm clothes, it was reminiscent of the Maidan days (December 2013 — February 2014, during the Revolution of Dignity — author’s note), when people brought everything needed to the volunteer tents. In the morning, we were going to the reception centre again, and once we left the house, we heard loud explosions in the area of the regional state administration. Rockets hit the building and nearby. There were many victims.

We immediately got in touch with those who remained in Kharkiv and united with friends and colleagues. This is how we began to help the people who stayed in the city. Someone found humanitarian supplies, someone prepared hot meals, someone packed, and someone delivered it all. Our ARTDACHA Charitable Foundation took upon itself the task of finding the necessary things for residents.

From the first days, we worked closely with Maks Burtsev (mastermind of the Baggage School — author’s note). He gave us interesting tasks, such as finding an ‘ambulance’ that would take women in labour to Dnipro. We organised evacuation, transportation to the hospital, and the search for prescription drugs. And we were in contact every day. Maks sent vegetables and other useful things needed here by the carload.

We call Mariam Yol, producer of Baggage, a hundred times a day. Together, we collected and sent several buses and a humanitarian aid bus to Piatykhatky, when there was a humanitarian disaster there, and we took people out of hot zones. With the team, we built a whole network of friendly headquarters.

The people around me are great support; until 24 February, I had no idea how much we can do together. When I call Viktor Ivanovych from the Zinkiv community of the Poltava Oblast, where we evacuated about 200 people, and ask him how things are going, he says: “Dear Vasylisa, the sun is shining, the tulips have bloomed, we are fine, do not worry. Have I already sent you a picture of daffodils?” He never complained about people, although he took on a very responsible function.

My colleague Mariia Kakurina organised Ukrainian Zen, a psychological rehabilitation camp for children and adults, which helps to adapt to a new life and survive war traumas. The camp was held in August, and 285 people attended it.

Today, we deliver food products, medicines, hygiene products, and household chemicals to the frontline zones. There is a great need for fuel for generators and fire extinguishers because fire lorries and rescuers cannot always reach damaged objects due to constant shelling. Help is needed by the Kharkiv citizens from vulnerable groups who are unlikely to manage on their own without it.

About skills from a past life

I have skills in corporate strategy, communication management, and mentoring. But now we are talking about completely different scales.

When I previously conducted trainings at the Baggage School, I was not responsible for the lives of the participants. And now we have thousands of grandmothers who will remain hungry without help, and the level of responsibility here is completely different. I think that my past experience came in handy — for a long time I managed the marketing department, we made a project for people with mental disabilities, and were responsible for their employment and future. But here the responsibility multiplied a hundredfold.

About plans

The first thing is to start a food truck together with partners and feed people with tasty and nutritious food. The second thing is to continue helping those in need. And the most large-scale plan is to launch a shelter together with partners.

There are many damaged houses in villages that are under constant shelling. When the cold comes, we have to be ready to take people out to keep them alive.

We expect that more than 1,000 people will pass through the shelter during the year. It will be temporary housing from which we will transport them to safer places. We are also planning to set up a shelter for animals on its territory so that the owners can be with their pets. We will equip a children’s room and a medical office. Also, we will build a sports ground in the courtyard closed from all sides. Today, we are looking for partners and working on the implementation of the project.

At first, as creatives, we decided to do what we do best — communicate. We tried to get the Russians to go out, protest, and tell everyone what was happening here. We still believed that it would help somehow. Already in the first days, thousands of questions appeared from different people: “How to leave?”, “How to install windows if they are broken?”, “There is not enough food in the community, what to do?” Of course, we helped as much as we could. It was difficult for me because I was used to building processes and evaluating results, in other words, running a business. And the first three weeks were fruitless and chaotic. I felt the need to do it in a structured way. This is how the Volonterska Foundation appeared. We knew that it would not be possible to help everyone at once, and it would be more effective to focus on specific population groups and create lists of people and locations. And we began to support the elderly and people with disabilities.

About tasks and needs of people

Maks: I think that the request for humanitarian aid will only grow every month. There will be less and less surviving apartments in which people will be able to live, and less and less money, and the cold season will come. Most people with a stable financial situation evacuated. There remain those who do not have the opportunity to leave.

Now we have opened a new area of work — for preparing for winter. We arrange ordinary basements so that there is everything you need. We also repair houses and apartments, install windows, create such conditions in apartments that people can live even without heating.

And another important task is supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Once I sat and thought: what must happen for Kharkiv to live? First of all, people. For people to be here, they must feel safe, so that no rockets fly over them. How can I influence this? We learned from scouts that they are in dire need of a drone that can destroy enemy artillery and rocket launchers located near the city. So we started raising funds for the drone.

What are our needs? It is money, of course. We cooperate with four large foundations, and with their help we managed to fill the pharmacy and food warehouse. But grants are not regular. They appear as one-time support, so once we close our needs, we are left without funding again. Smaller but regular grants are better than one big one for a short period. So we are constantly searching.

About skills from a past life

Maks: I do not really like networking and I never stay for after-parties. But when I started volunteering, I realised how important contacts and reputation are. I would never have believed that I would meet the deputy of Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, or that one phone call could help find humanitarian products for half a million hryvnias.

If you look at volunteering and business from the point of view of the organisation, they have common features. There should be a goal, results, distributed responsibilities, an understanding of what happens at each stage, and who does what. It was the experience of running a business that helped me build a system volunteer hub. I still do not know a lot about volunteering, and I admit it.

I think our strength is that we are not just a school that teaches crafts, we impart values: empathy, critical thinking, etc. Many people need it. I believe that after the end of the war, we will be able to work with those who did not have access to education. And we will organise a loud party in honor of the victory with all Kharkiv citizens.

З початком повномасштабного вторгнення, ми підтримали школу маркетингу та комунікацій «Багаж» — профінансували гуманітарну допомогу для жителів Харкова. Якщо ви також хочете скористатися з підтримки ЄС для українців, шукайте конкурс для себе у каталозі можливостей.

Since the full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine started, we have supported the school of marketing and communications Baggage, funding medicine and humanitarian aid for Kharkiv citizens. If you also want to benefit from EU support, browse our opportunities catalogue to find a perfect open call. 

Text: Oksana Semenik

Editing: Viktoriia Osipova

Translation into English: Julia Didokha