In early December, the world honours people who work without days off or holidays – those ready to help under any condition and expecting nothing more than a sincere "thank you." These people are volunteers. One of them is Tetiana Bondarenko, a specialist from the Financial Transactions Department at Metinvest Business Service, who was named "Volunteer of the Year" in 2024 at the enterprise.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, volunteering has become a natural part of life for many Metinvest Business Service employees – a matter of honour and dignity. Year by year, day by day, colleagues tirelessly support the frontline: helping relatives and friends, Ukrainian defenders, and civilians who, because of the war, found themselves in unfamiliar cities without essential belongings or support.
Tetiana BONDARENKO is an active volunteer of the "Girls' Home Front of Kryvyi Rih" volunteer organisation. She regularly helps raise funds for frontline needs and shares information about volunteer efforts on social media.
"At the very beginning of the full-scale invasion, I came across posts by my acquaintance Victoriia on social media. Together with her friends, she had created the volunteer group Girls' Home Front of Kryvyi Rih," recalls Tetiana. "The women weave camouflage nets, make sweets, and collect essential supplies for soldiers. At first, I supported the initiative with personal donations. And in June 2024, my husband Dmytro went to defend Ukraine. At that moment, I organised my first fundraising campaign to purchase essential equipment for my husband's communication unit. Many colleagues from Metinvest Business Service, Metinvest Digital (where my husband had worked), friends, and social media followers joined the effort. Thanks to wide reposting of the fundraising link, more than UAH 60,000 was raised. This inspired me to continue fundraising for the Girls' Home Front of Kryvyi Rih initiative,” shared Tetiana.
“When the first donations started coming in, I could barely hold back tears – it made me realise how many caring people are around us. I started a new fundraising campaign. We managed to collect more than UAH 70,000 over ten months. This September, we started separate fundraising for my husband's unit. Donations came not only from Ukraine but also from Poland, Bulgaria, Israel, Austria, and the United States. Many contributors – friends and colleagues – support the campaigns on a regular basis, choosing to donate to initiatives they trust,” told Tetiana.
According to Tetiana, volunteer work cannot be put on pause. Although, this is emotionally exhausting activity. Volunteers, as other Ukrainians, also can be tired and have a sense of weakness or disappointment.
"Sometimes it really feels discouraging, especially when fundraising slows down. But when my husband gets in touch and shares news from the front, my desire to help only grows stronger. Strength and motivation come from our defenders – and from the tireless women and girls who weave camouflage nets nonstop, carefully matching colours to the terrain and adapting to specific battlefield needs. Recently, they produced urgent 3D-style camouflage. It was a critically important order. We simply have no moral right to stop," said Tetiana.
Tetiana BONDARENKO is an active volunteer of the "Girls' Home Front of Kryvyi Rih" volunteer organisation. She regularly helps raise funds for frontline needs and shares information about volunteer efforts on social media.
"At the very beginning of the full-scale invasion, I came across posts by my acquaintance Victoriia on social media. Together with her friends, she had created the volunteer group Girls' Home Front of Kryvyi Rih," recalls Tetiana. "The women weave camouflage nets, make sweets, and collect essential supplies for soldiers. At first, I supported the initiative with personal donations. In June 2024, my husband Dmytro went to defend Ukraine. At that moment, I organised my first fundraising campaign to purchase essential equipment for my husband's communication unit. Many colleagues from Metinvest Business Service, Metinvest Digital (where had worked my husband), friends, and social media followers joined the effort. People shared our posts with the fundraising link. Together we raised more than UAH 60,000. This experience inspired me to do the same for for Girls' Home Front of Kryvyi Rih.”
“When the first donations started coming in, I could barely hold back tears – it made me realise how many caring people are around us. Then I started a new fundraising campaign. We managed to collect more than UAH 70,000 over ten months. This September, we started separate fundraising for my husband's unit. Donations came not only from Ukraine but also from Poland, Bulgaria, Israel, Austria, and the United States. Many contributors – friends and colleagues – support the campaigns on a regular basis, choosing to donate to initiatives they trust.”
According to Tetiana, volunteer work cannot be put on pause. Although, this is emotionally exhausting activity. Volunteers, as other Ukrainians, also can be tired and have a sense of weakness or disappointment.
"Sometimes it really feels like your hands are dropping, especially when fundraising slows down. But when my husband gets in touch and shares news from the front, my desire to help only grows stronger. Strength and motivation come from our defenders – and from the tireless women and girls who weave camouflage nets nonstop, carefully matching colours to the terrain and adapting to specific battlefield needs. Recently, they produced urgent 3D-style camouflage. It was a critically important order. We simply have no moral right to stop."
