Thousands of men and women fighting on the front lines in Ukraine, many civilians injured from bombings in the war with Russia and those needing routine medical care after some facilities have been destroyed, are benefitting from used medical equipment and supplies and equipment shipped to the country through Rotary Districts 5040 and 5050 shared Rotary World Help (RWH) network with sponsorship by the Rotary Club of Vancouver Arbutus and a District 5040 grant. Canadian Ukrainian Social Services worked with their Ukrainian team and other Ukrainian NGOs, including Ukraine in Armor in Kyiv, to identify the most urgently needed medical equipment and supplies and where they should be delivered, some to facilities near the front lines and others to hospitals treating the wounded, but impacted by the war, now and for all Ukrainians well into the future. The organization also sponsored and managed the distribution of the container contents from the port in Poland to the clinics and hospitals in Ukraine.
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On December 9, 2023 30 members of the regular RWH warehouse team, 10 volunteers from the Rotary Club of Arbutus and others from other Rotary clubs, and a member of the local Ukrainian community loaded the 40' shipping container with medical equipment and supplies which RWH had gathered used from BC health authorities, suppliers, clinics and hospitals in this region. Vancouver Arbutus Rotarians raised the funds to ship this container, as well as the first container sent in August 2023, through a fundraiser 'An Evening in Ukraine'. The club coordinated the project with Rotary World Help, secured volunteers, and helped to load the container. The container shipped in January 2024.
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Vancouver Arbutus Rotary raised over $13,000 at its 'An Evening in Ukraine' fundraising dinner on June 10, 2023 at Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Vancouver. Those proceeds contributed to the $9,145 cost for shipping a first container of medical equipment and supplies to Ukraine, loaded on August 12, 2023. The balance of those proceeds, plus another $2,200 from the Rotary club and a Rotary District 5040 Grant of $3,100 from The Rotary Foundation went towards similar funding of the second container shipped to Ukraine in January 2024.