When the war began, Denis Hryanyk took the dodi, as is his husband. For the safety of his relatives and his peace of mind, he took his family to Western Ukraine for them. And I transformed my business into headquarters that daily provides food for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the civilian population in the territories where hostilities are taking place.

In short, I am a businessman. A person who is professionally engaged in commercial activities. He invested and knew how to multiply them. In short, I’m like a driver’s fish. The vector of my activity was aimed at public catering. Not Ukrainian, but widely demanded and borrowed from other cultures – sushi and pizza. For three years, I literally enriched myself with a resource that occupied not only the material, but also the one that is now spoken of in modern times, “I am in the resource.” Here was my place of strength.

Then I decided to solve this activity and my wife. She, a real lady, wanted to get involved in the beauty industry and give beauty like no other. So I open her salon. We lived happily in our everyday lives, exchanged ideas in the evenings and talked about how the working day went. Our environment was also appropriate: all the same visions, views, opinions. 

That war divided me and my wife and friends. Business has gone to the bottom…

When the full-scale invasion began, I could not realize that it was really happening. I don’t know if I idealized the modern world or just didn’t want to believe that there could be a war in the 21st century. And with all its most terrible manifestations. With cruelty, violence, hunger, military equipment and alarms. Is it possible to imagine that in 2022, in the period of the latest technologies and digitalization, the Russian people will make a retreat in history to the point where the tribes ran with the lists on the territory of other nations.

But there was little time to think, because the information space was full of military realities, and Russian troops did not stop. Excitement, queues, traffic jams. My cold mind told me: nothing good will happen.

I took action, as I had my husband. For the safety of his relatives and his peace of mind, he took his family to Western Ukraine for them. He returned to Kharkiv and began volunteering.

My only wish is to be a useful people of Ukraine. And again, with a cold mind, I began to sort out options for what to do. The answer came naturally when I realized that everyone should do what works in it.

In addition, my three-year catering business is a good initiative. I had never volunteered before. This is all new to me. How to properly organize such activities, I also did not know. But I know that my freezers have a supply of food (they are “clogged” with food), and there is a warehouse with cereals. So I decided to feed people for free.

About creation of volunteer delivery “Kharkiv. Lunch”

There were problems with the staff. Because the team that worked with me before the war left. I didn’t have any cooks. And how to cook food for great people without professionals? I myself could not cope. Here the power of social networks and my DJ periodalization helped. I launched an ad on Instagram and, fortunately, four chefs responded and the volunteers agreed together.

So we started feeding people for free. We work five times. Our working day begins at the seventh year. The cooks come in the morning so that everything is ready by eleven. I already take food to the appropriate destinations on my own.

By 13:00, the workers preparing the dishes are already creating preparations for tomorrow’s menu. In total, we prepare more than 150 units for the military and civilians.

We also collect inquiries through the social network: people write exactly where and how many portions need to be delivered. We create posts with the following content: “If you know large groups that are in basements, shelters and they need help – let us know! WE FEED FOR FREE! ”  we collect arrays in Saltivka (ed. the largest residential sector in Ukraine. Located in the east of Kharkiv), where people need help the most.

We also prepare food for the Armed Forces. For the military – about 100 servings daily. They pick up the delivery themselves, in neutral territory, for obvious reasons.

Of course, for so many people in need of supplies, well, which I had in stock to complete the resource. Therefore, those who help financially come to the rescue. We have it officially so that people can see that they are really going to eat for civilians who need it and the military who give us every day of life. Every day we report. price, in the history of Instagram show: how much money was collected, and checks for the amount spent. This position has become unchanged, because honesty is the principle of a real person.

“Unfortunately, these are the people who, under the guise of volunteers, collect and profit from it. There are those who behave badly. And such behavior is completely inappropriate at this time”.

To be honest, this is the worst thing for me. It is necessary to remain the person behind any such. Especially when you need to be united and useful to your countrymen, comrades and the state.

This is the essence of man. When Kharkiv was bombed, everyone was frightened and hid behind our soldiers. This is a normal story during the war. People tried to leave and left. But now that they are back, some reasons themselves are completely different. They enter bars: they drink alcohol, have fun while others sit in shelters and hear the explosions and whistles of a rocket, and are unable to eat a piece of bread or take a sip of water. I do not know how conscience can allow “hanging out” when there is war in the country.

Perhaps they have forgotten that there is a war throughout the state? Do not forget these realities, those whose eyes were full of gratitude when they received a portion of food.

Encourage you to move on and work in the same spirit with grateful eyes. I seem to be an adult man who is hardly anyone’s sentimentality. But the only thing I will never forget is a look that is full of gratitude and kindness. A look of faith.

People who sit in Saltovka without light and gas, without a normal diet and are waiting for your arrival, can feel the hardest. Because they rejoice in food as if they see something supernatural.

I’m thinking again and I don’t know how it can be in the 21st century that people are starving, waiting for help and enjoying the usual products that are etched in their memory forever.

But war is a time of rethinking values. Those who seemed mundane and those who did not appreciate. I hope that this situation will end soon, everything will stabilize as soon as possible, and we will start living happily. Only now from a different perspective every morning. With a sense of gratitude and kindness.