Bridges to the Broken

Clothing collected for Ukrainian war refugees

Bridges to the Broken emerged from an initiative by high school student Natalie Tikhonovsky to help keep Ukrainian war refugees warm.  In fall of 2014, Natalie embarked on a mission to enlighten her community about the dire predicament of Ukrainian war refugees, many of whom are homeless, jobless, and defenseless in the subzero Ukrainian cold, and gain its support in her effort to collect warm winter clothing for the refugees.  By December, Natalie had realized her goal; as a result of her efforts, which included speaking throughout her community about the plight of Ukrainian refugees and launching multiple clothing drives, hundreds of people were now aware of the crisis in Ukraine, and, more important, over 650 winter gloves, scarves, hats, and coats were waiting to be delivered to Ukrainian war refugees.  

Natalie delivering donated clothing to a war refugee
 hostel in Kotsiubynske, Ukraine

During her school’s winter break, Natalie packed all 650 donated clothing articles and boarded a flight to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.  There, she visited war refugee camps, children’s hospitals, military hospitals, and churches to distribute the donated clothing among war refugees and injured soldiers.

Refugee children admiring donated clothing

Since arriving back home to America, Natalie has launched more collection drives to aid the embattled Ukraine and has increased their scope; in addition to winter clothing, she now collects children’s games, toys, and books in English for Ukrainian refugee children, many of whom are taking English classes, and hand warmers and Celox blood clotting power for Ukrainian soldiers deployed on the front lines.  

Refugee children donning newly delivered clothing

By virtue of continued contact with Ukrainian war refugees, Natalie has come to realize that her collection drives form bridges to the “broken”; not only do the collection drives allow Natalie to interact with and empower helpless war refugees, but they also allow her community to peek inside the ongoing Ukrainian turmoil.  Hoping to enlarge the “peephole” from which her community can catch a glimpse of Ukraine, Natalie now conducts presentations in local schools and churches about the Ukrainian war and how one can make a difference.

This coming December, Natalie plans to move to Ukraine to teach English in refugee camps and, hopefully, build more bridges to the broken.