When a community helps its own

Good Bread from Good People in Kyiv is not just baking bread - they’ve started cooking hot meals to distribute to pensioners and people in need. I went to see the project for myself.

They bake bread for front line communities. They provide work and opportunities for people with mental disabilities. And now the team at the Kyiv social enterprise bakery Good Bread are making hot meals for elderly and displaced people in the city, currently providing them on two days every week.

I went down to their kitchen hub to catch up on all their latest work. Upstairs, there was a large space for art projects, with photographs of staff members on the walls, which had been part of a recent exhibition. There were some tote bags with beautifully drawn cartoons, the work of one of the employees. They’ve been selling those to help raise funds, at the fortnightly craft markets run by the department store Vsi Svoi. They’ve been able to lay on art therapy workshops for staff, including painting, graphic design and sculpting in clay. It is all part of their mission to give people with mental disabilities the respect and support they need to have a meaningful role in society. 

Back in the kitchen area, a small team were hard at work, packing all the components of the hot meal kits into individual trays. One woman was busy measuring out portions of buckwheat, while another placed pork cutlets neatly on top, with space for a couple of spoonfuls of beetroot salad: a meal designed to be balanced and nutritious. Slices of fresh bread were packed into small bags to serve on the side. The trays were slid into foil packets to keep warm, and then boxed up ready to be taken to a small charity hub run by the Caritas organisation, on a housing estate in the city’s left bank. 

A queue of pensioners was already waiting patiently as we arrived. A lady from the charity had a list of names to check off, to make sure everyone had the meals they’d been promised. There was a large bag of fresh walnuts and some vegetables near the table, which people could take home for free. A charity volunteer ran to help one elderly man, as he scooped a handful of walnuts into his coat pocket, his hands trembling slightly with the effort. The Good Bread initiative was clearly popular: some people were taking meals back for their families, stacking three or four trays into shopping trolleys to carry home.

Vlad Malashchenko, the bakery’s founder, has been trying to raise more money not just to keep the project going, but to scale it up. At the moment they have the capacity to do a couple of hundred hot meals, two days a week, but with more funding, they could easily do more. His bakery has no shortage of ambition, while he’s been making some short films to show people more about their work. They never stop trying to raise enough funds to keep it all going, during a time of such hardship and uncertainty. The night before my visit to see the hot meals scheme, a Russian missile had landed in Kyiv, badly damaging nearby homes. One of Good Bread’s long standing employees, Misha, had been asleep at home with his family when a missile fragment flew into their flat, smashing windows and sending debris everywhere. Vlad immediately posted an appeal on Instagram asking for help: Misha’s family were not at all well off and had no money to pay for repairs. Within hours, the appeal had collected more than double the original target, with all the funds going to help the family fix up their flat and get back on their feet. It was proof that however tough life is for all Ukrainians, the community will always come together, at a time of urgent need. Meanwhile, Good Bread is appealing for the resources to continue its vital work baking and delivering bread to front line communities - and to do even more, with new projects like the hot meal deliveries and art therapy. You can support them direct via their website - details here. 

https://goodbread.com.ua