Delivering food, by guest editor

Thank you, Fiona, for giving me the opportunity to write in this blog. My name is Thomas and I reside in Guernsey. I am also the recent supplier, as mentioned in Fiona’s last blog, of her Yorkshire Tea! 

Recently, I returned to Kharkiv to volunteer at Hell’s Kitchen for the third time. I have always been involved in the Kitchen’s food preparation but, on this occasion, I joined one of the Ukrainian volunteer drivers one morning, to deliver food to the hospitals the Kitchen supplies. It was a chance to see the places where the food we make goes. Fiona wrote about her experience earlier this year of joining one of the delivery drivers to the hospitals and I thought it would be good to share mine.

I joined Kirill, one of the Kitchen’s delivery drivers, and visited three hospitals that the Kitchen serves, in different parts of the city. We split this into two journeys: two hospitals in the first load and, in the second load, one larger hospital. The Kitchen supplies food to other hospitals in the city, but these are collected by a driver working for those hospitals. Several of the hospitals and departments that the Kitchen supplies treat patients with psycho neurological challenges, which is important in the context of Russia's invasion.

The first step was to take the food, made the previous day by the Kitchen volunteers, from the cold store room to the van. All the food is bagged, with labels to assist the driver with where to deliver the food.

Having loaded up the van, we drove to the first hospital, which provides neurological treatment to patients. When we arrived, the hospital building looked nothing like the modern hospital buildings I am used to seeing back home. A reminder of the economic challenges in Ukraine brought about by the full-scale invasion. This hospital received around 50 portions of food. Kirill and I were met by two of the nurses and we brought the food into the hospital kitchen, to be distributed later that day. Kirill explained who I was to the nurses and I got a 'thank you' for my work. A reminder for all the Kitchen volunteers that the work we do is appreciated.

At each of our stops, Kirill took a photo of the hospital staff with the food. This to ensure accountability to the Kitchen’s vitally important donors. 

Pictured here is me with the nurses at this hospital, with the photo showing that the food has been delivered. This image will be sent to the aid donors as proof of the delivery. 

The road to the second hospital was bumpy and the building looked even less like a hospital. What was notable about this hospital was the shrapnel damage on the external walls. Last month another hospital in the northern part of the city, Saltivka, was hit, with around 100 patients in it at the time; six patients were injured. All of this is a reminder of Russia’s indiscriminate targeting of vital civilian infrastructure.

We were met by three members of staff at a back entrance, where we handed over another 50 portions of food before going on our way, after Kirill took the necessary photo.

We returned to the kitchen, collecting 180 portions of food, before driving to our next hospital. On arrival at the hospital, it was noticeably larger than the ones I previously visited. This food goes to one of the many departments at the hospital. In Ukraine, it is often the case that the departments, rather than the overall hospital, have control of the food ordering. Hell’s Kitchen provides food for the same hospitals each day and the amount of food supplied can increase or decrease, given the number of patients.

Kirill called the hospital staff, ahead of time, about our arrival. We entered through an ambulance bay, clearly marked by the emergency sign above the door. Out of the emergency department door came two nurses with a wheeled patient trolley and the delivery boxes from the previous day, to be used again (the Kitchen re-uses what it can!). As we loaded the trolley with food, it became clear that this would be used by the nurses to transfer the food to the hospital department’s kitchen, which is one practical way of doing it!

A photo was snapped and we returned to the Kitchen.

The food Hell’s Kitchen provides is vital for Ukraine’s health system. The economic situation in Ukraine as a result of the war, means that hospital departments have a budget of 16 UAH per person a day for food, which is equivalent to US$0.34, EUR0.32 or £0.29. With inflation driving up the cost of basic ingredients, this budget can only stretch to what has been described to me as a porridge-like soup. It It is clearly inadequate to provide the nutrition that patients need for recovery.

The food produced by Hell’s Kitchen - protein, such as chicken or fish, with rice, buckwheat or pasta, soup, salad and bread rolls - means that patients receive a balanced, nutritious meal, which improves patient recovery times and, potentially, allows for earlier discharge from hospital. That is crucial in a medical system under immense strain from the full‑scale invasion and the rising number of patients.

Given Russia's continued targeting of towns, leading to the relocation of residents and patients from the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, there is likely to continue to be increased pressures on hospitals in the city, making Hell’s Kitchen work even more essential.

For me, this day was a chance to better understand and see where the food we produce goes, and to meet the medical professionals supporting patients in Kharkiv. I am grateful to the Kitchen for facilitating this trip.

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Thank you, Thomas!

I note that this was not Thomas' only experience of delivering food to medical services during this volunteer period. A couple of weeks ago, he and two other foreign volunteers made about 100 chocolate cookies at the Kitchen and took them to one of the  Ambulance substations in Kharkiv. The ambulance crew were delighted, and also surprised and touched, when the volunteers turned up with a box of cookies, asking questions, such as, why were they selected, how did the volunteers find their base and why did they do this for them? As a partial answer, given the context of Russia's full invasion, their work is incredibly valuable and even more risky than in peacetime. 16 emergency services workers in the Kharkiv region have been killed in Russian attacks since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. Most of them died as a result of double Russian strikes ("double taps"), according to Viktor Zabashta, director of the Kharkiv Region Emergency Medical Centre - a tactic of repeated strikes on the site that was hit, when emergency services arrive. But, above all, it was a small gift to make the crew feel happy and valued.

Thank you for your generous donations; there will be an update on how these have been spent in my next post.

To make a donation, please open PayPal and, when asked for email, enter sunflower_house@hotmail.co.uk

As this post features the amazing work that Hell's Kitchen does, not only making daily, nutritious meals for hospitals, but also delivering aid to frontline villages and other humanitarian activities, any donations following this blog will go to the Kitchen, unless otherwise specified.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and thanks, also, for comments.

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