What do bees and military veterans have in common? In the heart of Ukraine, an innovative beekeeping project is helping veterans heal while contributing to environmental sustainability. Discover how RPCVs and Ukrainian partners are turning honey into hope through the Peremoha Mini-Grants program.
RPCV: Virginia Pasley, Teaching English as a Foreign Language Volunteer, 2006-2008
Ukrainian Partner: Larysa, Combat Bees
Region: Vinnytska Oblast
Virginia Pasley (RPCV 2006–2008) and her counterpart, Larysa, utilized the Peremoha Mini-Grant to provide essential personal hygiene and cleaning supplies to a shelter in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. The shelter operates within a professional technical school, which was repurposed in 2022 to accommodate internally displaced persons (IDPs).
The facility includes rooms equipped with beds, tables, chairs, and wardrobes, as well as shared kitchen and bathroom areas. Additionally, residents have access to a study room for educational and personal development activities.
Currently, 125 IDPs reside in the shelter, including 21 retired women, 13 retired men, and 28 children. The remaining members are aged 21-58 years old. Among the residents, ten individuals live with special needs. Since the onset of the full-scale invasion, this shelter has provided a safe haven for over 19,678 people. This shelter has proven a crucial safe space for people to go while they find their next home.
This is one shelter that Layrisa works with. She is a part of a Vinnytsia volunteer group called “Combat Bees”. Combat Bees has been helping the front line since the first day of the escalation of the war in 2022. They have more than 500 volunteers around the world and provide legal, psychological and social assistance to combatants from all over Ukraine. They reported receiving over 20 phone calls per day to ask for legal and humanitarian assistance. For example, as the war continues, many families have lost their official certificates such as birth certificates to help a family prove their children belong. This can be especially important when enrolling children in schools or receiving government funds if a parent perished in the war.
The project provided housing, health and general well-being assistance in a safer area of Ukraine during this transition.
Through providing $500 for housing, $500 for healthcare, and $500 for general assistance for well-being, Virginia is able to assist the group to ensure internally displaced people receive the care they need.
Larysa’s group Combat Bees has united community volunteers who work to support Ukrainian field hospitals, wounded soldiers, the families of soldiers and displaced persons since 2014. “At first, it was just a group of friends, which gradually grew. And today we already have more than a hundred volunteers working on a more or less permanent basis.” They have already helped many families affected by war in Ukraine, providing support with accommodation, medical services, and rehabilitation equipment.
Combat Bees also works with families of returned soldiers to discuss mental health. “We have a continuous flow of trauma, because the war is not over yet. A person who has returned from the front constantly thinks that he will go to war again, not today or tomorrow. And it’s good if the family accepts his condition”, says Larysa. “Sometimes a woman does not understand what a contusion is. After all, the man’s arms and legs are intact, but his behavior is inadequate. We understand him and try to observe him, communicate with him, explain his behavior to him.”
Larysa and Combat Bees continue to do extraordinary work on the ground and in the frontlines of the war. It’s due to the thousands of volunteers like these across Ukraine that internally displaced people are able to find hope.
The Peremoha Mini-Grants program, launched in 2022, empowers Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) and their Ukrainian partners to lead impactful projects supporting humanitarian aid, community development, education, and youth initiatives. These grants are made possible through charitable contributions and proceeds from the Babusya’s Kitchen Cookbook.
You can help make a difference! Donate to the Peremoha fund, purchase a cookbook, or apply for your own grant to support Ukraine.