This year, CBN-Emmanuel plans to install 700 solid fuel boilers in the towns of Krasnogorivka and Maryinka, Donetsk region.

In 2017, the solid-fuel boilers have been already installed in 1,511 households of Maryinka and Krasnohorivka and 2,521 tons of peat briquettes and 405 cubic meters of firewood were distributed among the beneficiaries. The project of installing heating boilers for residents of Maryinka and Krasnohorivka is being implemented with the financial support of the “Pope for Ukraine” Initiative.

On May 15-17, 2018, a press- tour was held in the East of Ukraine – Emmanuel’s team was able to bring to light all charitable activities carried out in partnership with “Pope for Ukraine” Initiative. Alongside with the media representatives, Emmanuel’s team visited the families where the boilers had been installed.

70-year-old Petro Petrovich from Maryinka shows the journalists a bunch of metal. These are the remnants of a projectile which could have killed him one summer morning.

On July 4, 2014, the man was standing at the gate of his house enjoying his morning coffee. When he heard a whistle, he realized that the projectile was flying in his direction. One fell in his neighbor’s garden and the other one fell into his front yard having burned an apple tree in his garden. The shells also damaged the summer kitchen. By a true miracle none of these shells killed the owner of the house. One could also see numerous bullet holes in the gate – everything here speaks of danger.

Petro Petrovych and his wife Valentina Alexandrovna have been living in this house since the beginning of the war. When their parents died, the couple decided to use the land as their summer house, however, it was attacked by thieves multiple times. It was the reason for the couple to move from Donetsk to Maryinka. Their two sons and three grandchildren stayed in their home town of Donetsk and the parents miss them a lot.

The gas shortage has become just another grave problem for the couple. Due to military actions, the gas  supply to the city was stopped, but the locals in Maryinka and neighboring towns were not ready for that. They had no firewood or coal in stock, so everyone started preparing for a difficult winter. In addition, one of the  windows in the house was destroyed by a shell. Petro Petrovych went to the governmental executive committee to ask for help, but there he was advised to cover the windows with blankets. So, without receiving any help, Petro had to buy and install a new window.

When the couple first moved to this house in Maryinka, they dismantled the oven – who could have ever thought about gas shortages at that time? Fortunately, they did not get rid of the furnace. After that, they put up a wood-burning stove in the house, but it would warm just one room – not the whole house. For several winters, the pensioners suffered from cold.  The heat returned to the house only with the installation of the  solid-fuel boiler by CBN-Emmanuel in the cooperation with “Pope for Ukraine” Initiative.  

“We want to thank you for this project and for taking care of us,” the couple says with a sincere gratitude.

630 families in Krasnohorivka and 70 families in Maryinka will be provided with solid fuel boilers for many more winters to come.