The Finnish charity organization Pro patria Suomi-Ukraina Ry, with the support of the Lions Club, as well as the Association of Ukrainians in Finland and the Association of Ukrainians in Tampere, in cooperation with the Dobrobut Foundation, donated 6 modern ambulances with all the necessary equipment to Ukraine.
The total cost was about 150 thousand euros. The Dobrobut Foundation will send these vehicles to the east of Ukraine to save the lives of our defenders and people who suffered from the shelling of Russian aggressors. Under the sponsorship of the Association of Ukrainians in Finland, all 6 vehicles received new medical equipment worth more than 23 thousand euros. Additionally, Pro patria Suomi-Ukraina Ry together with the Ukrainian Association of Tampere handed over about two tons of humanitarian aid to the Dobrobut Foundation.
The cars were driven to Ukraine from the Finnish city of Nokia by members of the Lions Club themselves, covering a distance of over 1600 km.
The ambulances are fully equipped with special medical equipment, including defibrillators, lung ventilators, stretchers, oxygen cylinders and other equipment. This equipment will allow not only to transport seriously injured people to medical facilities, but also to provide them with the necessary assistance during transportation.
The vehicles were handed over in Kyiv at the Dobrobut Medical Center at 3 Idzykovskikh Street with the participation of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Finland to Ukraine Jaakko Lehtovirt, Director of the Dobrobut Foundation Dmytro Grossu, and co-owners of the Dobrobut Medical Network Oleh Kalashnikov and Ihor Mazepa.
This is not the first synergy between the Dobrobut Foundation and Pro patria Suomi-Ukraina Ry. Last year, the Dobrobut Medical Network Charitable Foundation received a truck with medical instruments, disposable products, furniture, and baby kits. The foundation handed over all the equipment to the hospital of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Slavic Dream charity foundation, which takes care of people in the frontline areas and vulnerable internally displaced persons.
"I feel warm in my soul when I help the people who are fighting the darkness for their freedom. I also have a personal story related to Ukraine. A few days before my first visit to your country, my wife divorced me. I was very depressed. But Ukraine actually cured me - when I saw what was happening here, I realized that my problems were nothing. We are very pleased to have a reliable partner in Ukraine - the Dobrobut Foundation. Thanks to our cooperation, we know for sure that the humanitarian aid with the financial support of our main partner Lions Club, as well as with the participation of the Association of Ukrainians in Finland and the Association of Ukrainians in Tampere will get exactly where it is needed," says Tommi Torme, a member of Lions Club, co-founder and co-chairman of Pro patria Suomi-Ukraina Ry.
"I never cease to be amazed at how the desire to help Ukrainians unites people and organizations from all over the world. We are now working with our Finnish friends thanks to the assistance of our reliable long-term Ukrainian partner, U-CRANE, and its CEO Volodymyr Kuptsov. It was he and the company's staff who took over the support of the delivery of Finnish ambulances to Ukraine and related expenses. We are incredibly grateful to him for this and for his regular donations! I am very pleased that the joint efforts of the Dobrobut Foundation team, Lions Club, Pro patria Suomi-Ukraina Ry, the Association of Ukrainians in Finland, the Association of Ukrainians in Tampere and our Ukrainian partner will help provide our defenders with ambulances and medical supplies," says Dmitri Grossu, director of the Dobrobut Foundation.
Background.
The Dobrobut Foundation is the only charitable foundation in Ukraine established by a large medical chain. Dobrobut established the foundation to support projects in the field of education of future doctors and charitable medical projects, in particular, a program to provide surgical care for children with congenital heart disease. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, the foundation's priority has been to treat Ukrainians affected by the fighting. The main beneficiaries of the foundation are the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and their families, internally displaced persons, people in need of palliative care, and children with congenital heart disease. Anyone can support the foundation with contributions. You help - we treat!
Pro patria Suomi-Ukraina Ry is a non-governmental Finnish charitable association that collects and delivers humanitarian aid to Ukraine, as well as purchases vehicles. It was founded by the Lions Club, which is the world's largest association of public organizations with more than 1.4 million members in 200 countries.
The Association of Ukrainians in Finland is a Finnish non-governmental organization founded in 1997 in Helsinki. Since 2014, the Association has been delivering humanitarian aid to Ukraine and helping the victims of the war. After the outbreak of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, humanitarian activities became the main focus of the Society.
The Tampere Ukrainian Society is a Finnish NGO founded in 2020. Their mission is to help the Ukrainian people and raise awareness of the Finnish society about the current problems and needs of Ukraine.
