The International Assistance Headquarters for Ukraine

Half of all proceeds from this art sale go to help the charity, The International Assistance Headquarters for Ukraine (IAHU). If you haven't heard of this organization, that's because it's new. It was founded on Feb 27th, 2022, on the third day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was the first organization of it's kind in Slovakia, and it began in our town of Spišská Nová Ves (SNV).

This charity was founded by three Ukrainian business women, Anna Krysuk, Anna Lubima, and Oľga Semančáková who leads the charity here in our town. In SNV, the IAHU has a volunteer staff of eight people, of Ukrainian-Slovak descent. Their mission is two fold. First, they send humanitarian aid directly into Ukraine, to the city of Uzhhorod (where Mrs. Semančáková was born and raised). The charity has a supply center there, and has permission to cross the border into Ukraine, so they are constantly collecting donations of food, clothing, medicine, and toiletries to give relief to their war-torn country.

Their second mission is to facilitate the integration of Ukrainian refugees into Slovak society and the various legal and social systems of Slovakia. They serve as a point of first contact for all refugees headed to our town. There are currently (as of May, 2022) 650 Ukrainian refugees in SNV, including 250 children and teens, and 100 elderly, but the numbers keep rising. The IAHU in SNV transports refugees by car into Slovakia. For refugees arriving by train, it collects them at the station, and takes them to its information center in town. 

The IAHU provides all the information refugees need to begin new, safer lives here in Slovakia. The charity helps refugees register at our town hall and open a new bank account, so they can begin receiving benefits. It has them register at the unemployment office so they can begin looking for work (It also contacts employers directly for job interviews). Since February of this year, the IAHU has found employment for over 80 refugees in SNV. The charity finds housing for refugees, either hosting them in people's homes, or through local hotels. It helps enroll children into local schools and free afterschool programs. Since most teen refugees still attend Ukrainian school online, the charity seeks to provide as many computers as possible for their lessons. The IAHU takes refugees to hospital when needed and helps translate so that doctors here can better diagnose and care for these patients (Mrs. Semančáková's husband, Vasiľ Semančák, is also a licensed and practicing medical doctor in the neighboring village of Smižany). And, the IAHU provides transportation daily for refugees in and around town, serving as a guide to show where all essential services are.

Life for a Ukrainian refugee is not easy. Slovakia currently provides a single adult refugee a stipend of €68.80 per month (€130.90 for a single mother with up to 3 children). Slovaks who house refugees receive an additional €200 per month, which comes down to about €7 a day to pay for food and shelter - for those in hotel rooms, only €3 a day is devoted to food. Because of this, simply providing a decent daily meal is a struggle, and shopping for clothes, shoes, medicine, school supplies, and other essentials is nearly impossible. The IAHU sees this and provides additional food and assistance to the best of its ability, where it's most needed.

The IAHU does all this with no regular source of funding, functioning solely on private donations. A plan to receive support from the European Union is in the works, and a formal request is being drafted. But, until this is implemented, finding the funds to continue and expand this crucial humanitarian assistance is a daily struggle. It's a situation where Mrs. Semančáková and her colleagues jump from one crisis to the next, taking whatever aid and donations are on offer, and looking for the best ways to utilize them.

But, wait, if the IAHU is a local charity, in what way is it International? Well, Mrs. Semančáková and her founding partners have been working in business for decades, and have formed a network of partnerships and business relations around the world. When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 24th, 2022, these business relationships quickly transformed into charitable ones. The IAHU currently has partners in over 80 different countries, each one scrambling to raise money and aid for Ukraine. To date, the organization has filled over 150 trucks with supplies to Ukraine. It also has an information center set up in Toronto, Canada, to fulfill all the same roles as in SNV, and is looking to expand this role in other towns and nations as well. It's a question of finding the right people, with the right motivation, time, and the energy required to give refugees the support they need.

Once the IAHU in SNV receives enough funding, it plans to create a larger cultural center for Ukrainians - a place for neighbors to connect, to supervise children's activities, and to offer courses in Slovak and other languages, and provide job training seminars. Until it receives these funds, this remains just a dream.

For more information about the International Assistance Headquarters for Ukraine, and for regular updates, you can check their Facebook group here.

To send donations, here is all the necessary bank information for IAHU. If you want to purchase an artwork from the gallery section of this site, first message me if the work is still available. When you get confirmation that it is, you can purchase it using the same charity account:

IBAN: SK9375000000004012525689

BIC/SWIFT code: CEKOSKBX

Bank Name: Československá obchodná banka, a.s. (ČSOB)

Variable symbol: HelpUA