A small machine, a big problem
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the volunteers at Chervona Kalyna Kharkiv have sent more than 1.5 million pastries and 20,000 Easter breads to soldiers and medics at the front. Every batch started the same way: someone kneading dough by hand in the foundation’s bakery.
In June 2026, the machine that made faster batches possible — a professional dough mixer — broke down. Without it, the bakery’s daily output would fall to a fraction of what displaced families and soldiers had come to rely on.
What we asked for — and what happened
On June 12, the foundation announced a fundraiser with one clear goal: 73,840 UAH (approximately $1,800 USD) for a replacement — the Alimacchine SM20FT2VTX, an Italian professional spiral dough mixer built for daily continuous use in bakeries and pizzerias.
There was no countdown, no matching campaign, no celebrity push. Just the number, the reason, and a request.
Eight days later, on June 20, the foundation posted again: the goal was met. The new mixer had arrived and was already running at full capacity.
The machine:
- Bowl capacity: 22 litres
- Maximum dough per batch: 17 kg (approximately 350–400 pastries)
- Two speeds: gentle mixing, then intensive kneading for proper gluten development
- Built for: yeast dough, puff pastry, pizza base — exactly what the Kitchen of Kindness bakes every day
What your donation actually does
This is not an abstract impact statement. Here is what changed the week the mixer arrived:
- The bakery can now prepare twice as much dough in the same amount of time
- More pastries reach soldiers at the front and displaced families in Kharkiv
- Volunteers spend less time kneading by hand and more time on delivery and outreach
- The foundation’s daily bread distribution — including its partnership with Good People bakery — continues without interruption
This is how Chervona Kalyna Kharkiv works
Small, specific, transparent fundraisers like this one are core to how the foundation operates. A clear goal. A real number. A visible result. No donation disappears into a general fund with no way to trace its impact.
This particular fundraiser is also a small case study in trust: donors from Ukraine and abroad saw a concrete problem, understood exactly what their contribution would buy, and responded within days.
Read more about how this fits into the foundation’s broader work in the Q2 2026 Report.
Thank you
Chervona Kalyna Kharkiv is deeply grateful to every subscriber, partner, and donor who contributed to this fundraiser — in Ukraine and around the world. Because of you, the Kitchen of Kindness is baking more than ever.
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