We don’t want to simplify this story, but it is, by modern standards, banal. The team of the food truck "Food Without Borders" was looking for a support vehicle. Medical Aid Committee in Zakarpattya was aware of this need and involved partners from the Association SAFE (France) in the search. As a result, on its 25th anniversary, the Committee, together with its French friends, donated a special food transportation vehicle to the team of the NGO "Iskra Dobra". 

"Yes, we are an extraordinary organization, and we give out gifts on our birthday", jokes Nataliya Kabatsiy, director of CAMZ. "Our experience of cooperation with NGO "Iskra Dobra" is unique, because we have been helping affected civilians together for a long time – both in Kherson and Chernihiv regions, but this is the first time we have met. All contacts were online and effective. Interactions with NGOs from other regions, especially those near the frontline, shape our reality, and it is such that we cannot stop or give up", concludes the director of the organization.

During the two months of work, the mobile kitchen prepared 120,000 portions of hot meals and delivered them to residents of frontline settlements, evacuees from the border area, rescuers and volunteers who were overcoming the consequences of enemy shelling, and the military. Initially, the food truck was based in Kharkiv region, having changed several cities, and now continues its mission in Sumy region. As the need for food support is extremely high, and not all beneficiaries can get to the place of distribution of hot meals, a solution was found in delivering food to places of evacuation or compact residence of IDPs.

"Organizing a mobile kitchen is a complex and multi-component process. It includes a team, products, equipment, and the necessary infrastructure, but most importantly, it includes people who need help and for whom this initiative was created. We have two years of experience in the Kherson region, where our humanitarian kitchen operates. The realization that such assistance should be more mobile came a long time ago, and we started looking for like-minded people to help implement this idea. On January 31, we set out on the route, the first stop being the town of Izyum. For almost two months, we have been working in Izyum, Derhachi, Rohan, and now we are working in Sumy", said Ihor Kukobko, head of the NGO "Iskra Dobra".

"We have a long-standing friendship with the Medical Aid Committee in Zakarpattya, have always been aware of the situation in Ukraine, and since February 2022 have been actively involved in helping Ukrainians suffering from russian hostile attacks. The food truck is another initiative that we believe is necessary to address the humanitarian crisis in frontline settlements. We have seen photos and videos from the mobile kitchens, and now we have met the guys who initiated this project. This greatly expands our understanding of the current situation in the east and north of the country, and it is much more truthful than the news we are shown", said Catherine Duplessy, director of the Association SAFE (France), during a meeting in Uzhhorod. 

The food truck’s chef, Oleh Bibikov, emphasizes that the amount of work is constantly increasing, as the war deprives many families of normal life and access to basic needs. Even a portion of a hot lunch is often a significant support for a person. 

"We constantly need extra hands in the kitchen. On the one hand, from the first day of the food truck’s operation, it became obvious that it was extremely necessary. On the other hand, the planned volumes of food prepared are growing every day. While at the beginning of the mission we said that we would prepare about 3 thousand portions a day, now the daily norm often exceeds 5 thousand portions. Fortunately, there are always volunteers among the locals who help us. Yes, it is hard, but it is worth it", adds Oleh Bibikov. 

The people who line up for the food truck every day are mostly elderly people, internally displaced persons, and parents with many children. According to the chef of the mobile kitchen, it rarely happens that there are any fraudsters. To receive food, you need to have documents confirming that you belong to the target group of the "Food Without Borders" program. Information about its operation spreads quickly in online communities, so from day one, the cooks have a lot of work. 

To strengthen the mobile kitchen team, the Medical Aid Committee in Zakarpattya, together with its partners, donated a powerful generator to the NGO "Iskra Dobra", and later a charging station to equip the staff’s place of stay. Now the humanitarian mission will become even more mobile and will be able to reach more people with support. On Monday, March 24, the support vehicle started its work in Sumy. Unfortunately, the city was subjected to a terrible enemy shelling – several high-rise buildings and a school were damaged, according to preliminary data, more than 100 people were injured. In the first hours and the next day after the attack, the food truck team delivered several hundred portions of hot meals to the site of the attack.

And here is a little bit about the event in Uzhhorod from the journalists of "Suspilne. Uzhhorod".