On Saturday, February 1, the food truck of the NGO "Iskra Dobra" set off on its first "Food Without Borders" food mission. This was preceded by the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between ten businesses and NGOs on the national TV channel "1+1", which made it possible to launch this important humanitarian initiative.

Charitable Organization "Charity Fund "Medical Aid Committee in Zakarpattya" provided the mobile kitchen with a powerful generator, which was donated to Ukraine by partners from the Association SAFE (France).

"We have been looking for a generator for a long time – a powerful and reliable one, which means it is expensive. And this was an immediate problem. It was solved by our friends from Zakarpattia, who, together with their partners, found the necessary equipment and sent it to the base where we assembled our food truck. Now other partners are installing a special carriage for the generator so that it can be mobile as well", said Oleh Bibikov, co-founder of the NGO "Iskra Dobra".

Often, people in frontline settlements are unable to provide themselves with adequate nutrition due to lack of proper living conditions, financial problems, or lack of access to grocery stores, etc. "Food Without Borders" is a project aimed at providing food support to the war-affected population. The direct implementation of the project was a food truck – a fully equipped kitchen on wheels with all the equipment and communications, along with a team of professional chefs, truck drivers, and an accompanying vehicle for food delivery.

"The potential of this food truck is up to 5,000 servings of hot lunches per day and up to 1,000 loaves of bread, which we can also bake in this vehicle. There are also places for staff to rest, so the facility is completely autonomous. In the absence of access to the central power grid, all equipment will run on a generator. We have assembled a powerful team that is capable of implementing our plan, and we have been nurturing it for a long time, looking for partners, equipment, etc.", shared the details Ihor Kukobko, head of the NGO "Iskra Dobra".

Oleh Bibikov added that while working in Kherson and Chernihiv regions, the organization’s members saw firsthand both the need for support and the benefits of food initiatives.

"We fed people with borsch after the terrorist attack on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, worked near the Children’s Hospital "Okhmatdyt" and set up our kitchen in Chernihiv after the shelling... Cooking is something we know how to do well, and now the need for our skills has increased. We are scaling up our assistance, making it mobile, to be on time where it is needed most. A portion of a hot meal is not only about nutrition, it is also about care, attention, and a sense of support. Donors have supported us, and we will take this support and pass it from hand to hand to thousands of Ukrainians in need. We are convinced that everyone has a spark of kindness and it is worth sharing", says Oleh Bibikov.

Volunteers will distribute hot meals right next to the food truck, and those who are unable to get to the distribution point, such as residents of shelters in remote areas, will have food delivered to their address. This is how the humanitarian kitchen in Kherson region worked, and NGO "Iskra Dobra" will expand this practice to other regions where the food truck will go.

"The entire team of the Medical Aid Committee in Zakarpattya is happy to join this extremely important initiative. From the moment we learned about the idea, we believed that together with all partners we would be able to implement it. We have long been cooperating in the humanitarian field with the volunteers of "Iskra Dobra" and see how much food support is in demand among the war-affected population on the ground. This food truck has become a kind of embodiment of help at arm’s length. And wherever we are, we are sure that a portion of delicious warm food is exactly where it is needed most", said Nadiya Danch, the Committee’s project coordinator, during the signing of the memorandum.

Indeed, CAMZ participates in the "All-Ukrainian Humanitarian Kitchen" in Kherson region, food activities in Chernihiv region, and master classes for children organized by the team of the NGO "Iskra Dobra". Now the geography of projects that are useful for the population will expand. When the food truck was on its way from Kyiv to its first location in Kharkiv region, enemy shells hit a residential building in Poltava, unfortunately resulting in deaths and injuries. The food truck made a stop in Poltava to provide food for rescuers and other specialists working at the scene of the tragedy. Currently, the team of cooks is in Kharkiv region, where they continue to serve hot meals to local residents and IDPs who were forced to leave their homes due to the war.

Photo: Oleksandr Demydenko, Kateryna Irkha, NGO "Iskra Dobra"