In January, TNMU Volunteers Made More Than 700 Trench Candles and Received Support from Poland and Italy

On January 24, 2023, the eighth-grade students of Ternopil Secondary School No. 13 visited the volunteers of I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, who are involved in making trench candles. Volunteers shared their experience of making trench candles with great enthusiasm. Today, it is important to provide the military with sources of light and heat, because this is often the only means for warming up and heating food in the dugout at the front line.

Each student made 2-3 candles and tried to fill them with paraffin. The children were active, interested and inquisitive. In total, the students made 50 candles.

It is nice that the guests of our volunteers expressed a desire to make trench candles at home and bring them to TNMU so that our volunteers can hand them over to the military. We thank the teachers for their active participation and help in organizing volunteer work.

A workshop for schoolchildren was conducted by students of the Faculty of Medicine, Bohdana Dovhaliuk, Ilona Novakivska, and Daryna Yuziuk.

In January, our volunteers made more than 700 candles, which are already used by our defenders. These sources of light and heat are constantly needed at the front, so as soon as the paraffin in the candle dries out, everything is carefully packed into boxes and sent to the military.

The teachers and students of M. Verbytskyi Ternopil Music School No. 2, who handed over 617 empty cans to our volunteers, helped a lot. These candles are used by representatives of the Armed Forces near Bakhmut. We would like to express appreciation to the director of the music school, Vasyl Koval, who encouraged the team for such an important volunteer work, as well as the teacher of the institution, Nelia Ivanonkiv, who initiated this process.

Volunteers of TNMU express their sincere appreciation to Ukrainians from Olbia (Italy) for the donated paraffin and cans. It is very pleasant to feel the support of the Ukrainian diaspora in Italy and to know that the world is uniting to bring our victory closer. Carriers from Ternopil (Andrii Bohiv) delivered materials from Italy to our “laboratory” of light and heat, and Stepan Matsipura already directly handed them over to us.

Volunteers of TNMU are actively supported by citizens of Poland. During the winter holidays, Ilona Novakivska, a student and active volunteer of our university, visited Poland. It was a pleasant surprise that when she was returning home, caring citizens of this country brought several boxes of candles to the bus as materials for making trench candles. We sincerely thank the Poles for their care and support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in particular Maria and Andrzej Vujcik.

The volunteer team for the production of trench candles also expresses their gratitude to the residents of Ternopil, who brought a lot of cans, cardboard and other materials during the New Year and Christmas holidays.

The work of our volunteers unites Ukrainians in different countries, unites citizens of other states and citizens of Ukraine within its borders. Let us keep working and let us stay strong!

TNMU Press Secretary, Yanina Chaikivska.

Photographs by TNMU volunteers.