Dear donor,

My name is Gary Painter. I am a British International Rowing Umpire. In my experience in overseas events I have had the privilege of working with some inspiring people. One of these is Victoria Maydachevska from Ukraine. Her story is below. Please help if you can.

I met with Victoria again last month at the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade. She is desperately trying to help young people in the city of Zaporozhe to engage in rowing safely outside a city in the front line of Russian attacks. Her story is below. I am acting as a co-ordinator so that any funds collected in the UK can be securely transferred to her. Please read Victoria's story and donate what you can to a worthy cause. Thank you.

My name is Victoria; I am Ukrainian and an International Umpire and rowing coach. From the beginning of the war my husband and I decided to start working with novices, despite the fact that my husband has more than 40 years of experience in rowing and has worked with national teams from different countries.

Our city Zaporozhe is in the front-line of the current war. Russian troops are 50 km from us. Our city is bombed regularly and once every 10-15 days a bomb hits a residential building.

We hope, with the help of the rest of the World, to win this war. With this in mind, we are trying to develop a local rowing club here in Zaporozhe.

People need a holiday. Especially in difficult times. Perhaps that is why the ancient Greeks stopped wars during the Olympic Games. It is unlikely that the upcoming Olympic Games will be a reason to end the war in Ukraine, which means that our city will remain in front-line status for a long time. As a result of the fighting people die and infrastructure is destroyed. The negative impact of war undermines all types of social activity, although this does not seem as dramatic as the consequences of missile strikes.

In Zaporozhe children have not attended school for the third academic year in a row. Think about it - a ten-year-old child has never entered a school classroom! Children study online, and during an air raid, classes stop, and everyone must go to a shelter. Sometimes teachers only manage to teach one lesson in a whole day. Rarely is this lesson a physical education lesson.

It would seem that under the current conditions, what could be better than rowing? Rowing - fresh air, a natural environment, physical activity, communication with crew partners. The alternative to this inspiring prospect is the depressing trend towards antisocial behavior in children and adolescents. While Ukrainian solders are devoting all their strength to repel external aggression, criminal elements are not wasting time. Young people who have fallen out of pedagogical influence fall under the influence of drug dealers and criminal elements, become apathetic, withdraw into themselves, and lose motivation.

They are however the future of our country!

Under such circumstances, sport acquires special social significance. Many people are realizing how significant the extracurricular socially significant activities of children and adolescents are, and are now making efforts to ensure that the consequences of this war are not so destructive.

Thanks to the help of the German Federation and rowing enthusiasts, we have managed to strengthen the material base of our rowing club. Now we have boats, oars, ergometers - everything we need for normal training work. Moreover we were given money from people of the Rotary club to deliver it to Ukraine.

From Germany we received:

A boat-trailer.

Rowing machines (Concept2 Ergometers) – 4 pieces (2 new, 2 used)

Rowing boats and equipment:

Single sculls (1x) – 5 pieces

Double sculls (2x) – 5 pieces

Coxed Quadruple sculls (4x+) – 4 pieces

Oars (sculling) – 16 pairs

Oars (sweep) – 10 pieces (new)

However, access to the Dnieper River where training was previously held, is prohibited for safety reasons. In addition, due to the destruction of the hydroelectric dam, the Dnieper became very shallow. All the city's rowers have to use the only remaining location suitable for access to the water, but the canal is gradually draining, already a metre less than before the war.

All other rowing clubs are closed.

Athletes and coaches stoically endure temporary difficulties - there are no showers, no drinking water, the amenities include tiny dressing rooms and a medieval toilet on the street. Our changing room is now a disused railway wagon!

State funding has practically stopped; all costs fall on the shoulders of coaches and parents and in the near future, all children's sports will become self-sustaining. Moreover Zaporozhe is an industrial city and harmful factories in the city often operate without treatment facilities.

In order to improve the conditions for training of rowers in the city, a non-governmental non-profit sports organization “Great Meadow Rowing Club” will been created.

The club’s goal is to create decent training conditions for Zaporozhye rowers. The club's management inspected several country properties with access to the water located at a considerable distance from potential air raid targets, and whose characteristics correspond to the goals and objectives of the rowing club. Contacts have been made for the purpose of acquiring these sites. In the future, one of these facilities will become a training place for young rowers; their second home.

“Great Meadow Rowing Club” is a non-profit organization, expenses in the initial formation phase will be borne by its founders. One of the major expense items is the purchase of a minibus for transporting rowers to a suburban branch and to the competition site. Any assistance provided for the purchase of a club minibus will be greatly appreciated.

We have another winter in front of us without electricity, without heating. Thanks to God we did not experience too much cold last winter, so have a hope of survival this coming winter too!

After all, even during the war, people need a break, and sport is a holiday that is always with you.