The ongoing war in Ukraine caused by the Russian acts of aggression has made the devastating consequences of war a reality for thousands of families. With the frigid winter temperatures compounding the severity of war, we knew we had to do more than stand with Ukraine. The MarketStar Bulgarian team knew something had to be done to help the Ukrainian people.

Led by Teofil Shikov, Vice President of Operations, the entire MarketStar Bulgaria office helped activate the global network. The work on the ground seamlessly connected with local partners to mobilize, source, procure, and deliver critical supplies to people with the greatest need in Ukraine regions. With guidance from the Netpeak Group Foundation and through the non-governmental organization My City, MarketStar Bulgaria directed over $100,000 (US Dollars) in donations for much-needed supplies to the Ukrainian people, with funding provided through a partnership from the MarketStar Foundation and the Dell Loy Hansen Family Foundation.

The MarketStar Foundation works to create growth that strengthens communities through programs that connect the passion of our people with our resources to support and serve areas in which we live and work. Through the Building Better Communities program, the Foundation was able to deploy funding to help with the immediate need for aid to Ukraine communities from our Bulgarian team.

As winter started setting in, MarketStar Bulgaria set two big goals for this initiative. The first was to help maintain a constant power supply in the country by purchasing and delivering generators from Bulgaria. "It was essential for us to implement this project before the New Year to provide people from the frontline cities the means to stay connected to electricity -- especially during winter," said Serhiy Lukachko, CEO of My City.

The second goal was to provide supplies to the people in need, specifically increasing the level of mobility of elder Ukrainians and people with disabilities in the City of Kharkiv, Ukraine.

In total, 31 generators were purchased in Bulgaria and delivered to Ukraine in one month. Twenty-five generators went to Nikolaev Regional Administration in Mykolaiv, which has been undergoing significant shelling since the very beginning of the war. One generator went to Odessa Air Defense to increase the readiness to protect citizens from bombing and rocket attacks. Two units were sent to Kherson where the support was most critically needed for locals to continue their lives after the occupation. And the remaining three generators were sent to the Bessarabian villages of Vladychen, Kamenka, and Krynychne, which allowed the restoration of their communication with the outside world during the blackout.

Kharkiv also became a focus for the initiative after recognizing that hundreds of seriously ill older Ukrainians in the City's high-rise buildings needed special care. As a result, more than 150 daily hot meals were delivered to pensioners, people with disabilities, and socially vulnerable sections of Kharkiv's population, as well as providing specialized equipment for a 14-year-old boy suffering from a rare form of muscular dystrophy.

Our colleagues from Ukraine offer great gratitude to all those who contributed to the implementation of this initiative. Special thanks to My City for the assistance in receiving and distributing the aid. They handled the logistics and the border crossing documents for the shipments. The My City team made every effort to ensure that the generators would reach the people who needed them. We also recognize Gennadiy Vorobyov and Kristina Dubovaya for the purchase and organization of the logistics of generators to Ukraine in such a short time.

Separately, we would like to note the contribution of our colleagues from Netpeak Group Foundation, Serhiy Lukachko, and Igor Muterko, who, despite the massive shelling and air defense, delivered and handed over the generators.

My City is the largest accelerator of civic projects in Ukraine. The platform was started seven years ago and has since raised more than UAH 13.5 million to implement 144 successful community projects. Providing aid during this invasion has been the focus of the organization's activities during the past year.

Netpeak Group is a remote-first company with offices in Odesa, Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Cherkasy, Ukraine, which are temporarily closed due to the Russian invasion. Netpeak Group also has offices in Bulgaria and Kazakhstan.

The entire MarketStar family hopes that we have managed to bring at least a little warmth and hope to the homes of Ukrainians. Let winter not break the spirit of the Ukrainian people, despite the terrorist attacks. Whatever happens, let us all keep the light in our hearts. And then we can defeat the darkness.

For the people of Ukraine.