How to Help Ukraine: Helping vulnerable, elderly people with Starenki (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, 

Thank you for your continued support. Last year, we launched a new membership benefit — the “How to Help Ukraine” newsletter — because we heard from you that there’s interest in getting more involved in helping Ukraine. 

Each month, we send one edition of the newsletter, highlighting an organization supporting Ukraine and giving you a closer look at civil society — along with opportunities to donate or, in some cases, volunteer. 

Your support has made a huge difference and proves that every small action adds up: In 2025, our community raised over $100,000 for the organizations featured in this newsletter. This truly shows the power of collective action. Thank you to everyone who wants to help Ukraine, reads the newsletter, and donates. 

In the seventh edition of “How to Help Ukraine,” we’re proud to share with you the work of Starenki, a Ukrainian charity that helps vulnerable elderly people by providing them with care packages of essential items and emotional support. 

Right now, Starenki is responding to the energy crisis in Kyiv, delivering 80-100 care packages per week, making sure that each recipient receives not only non-perishable food and essential items for basic daily care, but also items to stay warm. Starenki is operating at a higher capacity than usual due to the energy crisis and currently needs about $7,100-8,000 per week. For context, a kit with food and supplies for warmth is typically about $70. Every contribution makes a difference — and you can donate here or become their member on Patreon here.  

Starenki — which means “elderly people” in Ukrainian — started in 2015 as a grassroots volunteer effort to help lonely, elderly folks who are affected by systemic pension inequality in Ukraine. Starenki is a registered charity as of 2017, and the organization works directly with social services at the local level to identify those most in need of help. 

The minimum pension in Ukraine is less than $100 per month — which means that older people who do not have support from relatives or caregivers often live in poverty or have to choose between buying food and medicine. Starenki prioritizes helping those who do not have relatives and whose pensions are less than $120 per month. 

Each care package is tailored for the recipient — containing food staples, hygiene products, and materials to stay warm, including blankets, during the current energy crisis. Each delivery is accompanied by a social worker, ensuring safety and dignity. 

Since the start of Starenki, the organization has raised nearly $2 million in donations and delivered over 94,000 aid packages to those in need. In 2025, Starenki helped people in over 130 cities and villages in Ukraine.

Even now though, Starenki is only able to cover about 30% of the requests due to limited financial resources. The number of older people who need support in Ukraine is immense — and the war is making things much worse.

As Starenki explains, while it cannot single-handedly solve systemic pension inequality in Ukraine or the infrastructure collapse that leaves people freezing during outages like the current energy crisis, it does what it can where the state can’t reach fast enough — stepping in to immediately fill some of the gaps, like hunger, cold, and loneliness. 

Usually, provided Starenki has enough cars and volunteers, they help about 50-70 people per week in Kyiv, supplying them with either a food kit or a hygiene kit. Now, since the organization is responding to a crisis situation, they combine a kit with additional supplies to stay warm inside, and they’re delivering between 80-100 packages per week. Each care package costs between $50 and $90, depending on the contents, meaning that Starenki needs between $7,100-8,000 per week to operate at the current level. 

If you’d like, you can make a donation here, either using Google or Apple Pay to fund food packages or hygiene packages, or via direct bank transfer (details listed further down on this page). You can also support Starenki by becoming their member on Patreon.  

Thank you for your support — and we hope you find these letters highlighting organizations like Starenki valuable. If you have any questions or feedback about our newsletter, please feel free to respond directly to this email or reach out via email at brooke@kyivindependent.com and let us know what you think of this membership benefit.