In 2006, our Community has increased thanks to the new building and the improved living conditions. By the end of the year, we had 17 adults and a woman with three children. In 2006, 90 companions lived in the Community during the year, social consultations were provided to 585 people, psychological counseling for 250 people, medical consultations for 95 people, assistance in restoring documents and registration for 10 people.

In 2006 we improved our economic activity. As part of the UCAN project, we purchased the necessary power tools to improve the work of the furniture workshop. We managed to rent more premises, which allowed us to expand the range of workshop services and to place a small charity store and increasing the Community income. Five companions are employed by the city as street cleaners. They clean up to 10 kilometers of streets every day. One companion is employed at the city institution of construction work. The truck carries out transportation to the orders of city residents.

We continued weekly food distribution for the poor in the city center. We do the food distribution since August 15, 2003. It is funded with charitable donations from citizens and implemented in cooperation with the A. Sheptytsky hospital. For the last two years it is financed partly by the city. This project is necessary because of the actual Ukrainian realities, since it is obvious that there are much more homeless, lonely, poor people in Lviv than we can welcome in the Community. During the food distribution, social workers and volunteers inform people about services that they can get at various institutions of the city, advise and support. In 2006, 53 outreaches were made and 5,300 servings of hot food were distributed.

The year 2006 also brought major changes in the awareness of the Community itself as being responsible for the people who are now poorer and unable to receive social assistance from the state. In January 2006, during a severe frost, a tent camp was organized for homeless people in Lviv who suffered from extreme cold. The municipal social institutions services, business and public organizations, a large part of the non-indifferent citizens of the city were involved to this activity. Thanks to this problem became visible and some steps were made to solve it. With the help of “Oselya”, a city center for the registration of homeless people was set up in Lviv. It provides registration and other social service. In the tent city during the frost, more than 300 people were housed. After the tent camp was dismissed, the Community, which consisted of 10 companions, decided to welcome up to 35 people and 5 of them stay in the Community until now and actively participate in its life and activities. Based on these events a movie “Mezha” (“The edge”)  about the problem of homelessness in Lviv was made.

For Christmas and Easter, the Community organized charity meals and invited up to 200 people to share with.

This year, we reconstructed the old Community building and finished the construction of a new one next to it. We have received funds from the Embassy of Japan in Ukraine for the reconstruction of the old building and the arrangement of kitchens, dining rooms, office, rest room and two bedrooms there. Also, from this embassy we received funds for the purchase of a truck, which greatly improved the collection of old things. Thanks to the support of the Dutch Funds Network and the “Emmaus” Communities,  we almost finished the construction of a residential building and placed people in double rooms.

Lviv community was interested in the the life and activities of our organization. There was a lot of information about us in mass media. “Oselya” became one of the key organizations in the city dealing with the problem of homelessness. It helped to actively expand cooperation at the local level with local authorities, public organizations, and business structures. This year, “Oselya” became a member of the Lviv Civic Forum, which brings together representatives of organizations from various spheres of activity for the purpose of building a civil society. We involved donors to various social projects. Since 2004, our organization has been closely cooperating with the Social Protection Department of Lviv City Council and receive finances through social projects funding. The project of food distribution has been partially financed by the city for the third year. During the year students of the Department of Social Work at Lviv Polytechnic University were practicing, and volunteers from various youth organizations helped a lot.

For the six years, “Oselya” collaborates with Emmaus International Movement, which helps homeless people in many countries. In 2006,  we had significant support from communities in Lublin, Novy Sonch (Poland), Cologne (Germany), Cambridge (England), Arezzo (Italy), Emmaus Association (France). They supported the functioning of the Community, payment of wages to employees and some construction work. Because Emmaus idea is very close to our organization, the general meeting decided to apply for the trial membership in Emmaus at the end of this year.

The beginning of cooperation with the Kofoed’s School was also important this year. The School has for many years been engaged in professional reorientation of the homeless in Denmark. The “help for self-help” approach is fundamental in their work and in our work as well. The exchange of experience was held and further cooperation was planned with the aim of organizing a similar school in Lviv. It was interesting to start cooperation in the Ukrainian – Dutch project on the exchange of experience between Lviv, Warsaw and the Hague. The purpose of the project is to develop a program of social assistance for the homeless in Lviv on the basis of foreign experience.

INCOMES IN 2006: