Ukrainian credit unions and their members continue to show resilience during year 3 of Russia’s war
Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine is now in its third year, causing many Ukrainians to suffer from chronic stress, fatigue and sleep disturbances. As if that weren’t enough, many are also suffering from vision loss due to long and repeated stays in poorly lit bomb shelters.
Lina Zayets, an ophthalmologist with 17 years of experience working in a local hospital in the rural western Ukrainian city of Radyvyliv, is working to do something about that with the help of her local credit union, PVKS, Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions (WFCU) and the USAID/World Council of Credit Unions’ (WOCCU) Credit for Agriculture Producers (CAP Project) in Ukraine.
Along with her position at the hospital, Lina has also owned her own optical store for seven years. Recently, she went one step further, purchasing a new property where she plans to open a private clinic where residents of her small town can access to quality eye exams and treatment. The nearest such clinic is currently more than 60 miles away.
To get her new venture off the ground, Lina put her mother in charge of the optical store and started work on equipping the clinic. But in order to purchase everything she needed to help patients, she had to access more financing.
She was able to obtain a loan from Credit Union PVKS that was financed through the WFCU Resilience Initiative. Launched in partnership with the CAP Project, the Resilience Initiative ensures access to affordable financing through Ukrainian credit unions for women in business and other underserved populations.
Thanks to the $12,500 loan, Lina has already purchased laser eye equipment for her clinic and is currently doing repairs that will allow her to open the doors to patients as soon as possible.
Lina’s story is just the latest example of how the Resilience Initiative has helped everyday Ukrainians support their communities during the war. To date, nearly 130 loans have been disbursed for a total of $605,000 under the Resilience Initiative.
Those funds were made available through generous donations from credit unions to WFCU’s Ukrainian Credit Union Displacement Fund, which is now being utilized to raise an additional $500,000 for the Venerate Ukrainian Veterans Program. The new initiative aims to help credit unions provide business loans to Ukrainian veterans and their families.
You can donate to the Venerate Ukrainian Veterans Program by clicking here.
Optician’s store owned by Ms. Lina in Radyvyliv, Rivne Oblast, Ukraine
Ms. Lina’s mom at work at the optician’s store
