The Lviv Agrarian Chamber, as an implementing partner of the UN World Food Programme, not only distributes long-life food products to institutions caring for people in need, but also monitors the storage and use of these products, and assesses the impact of the Institutional Food Programme on the quality of life of those in need.
To this end, monthly visits are made to institutions participating in the Programme. On 21 October, the monitoring mission visited two institutions in the town of Rudky in the Sambir district.
LAP Chair Ihor Vuytsyk and Monitoring and Protection Officer Davyd Kravchenko visited the Rudky Municipal Council’s “Rudky Hospital”, where, together with the hospital’s director Roman Pukalo, they inspected the storage facilities and the kitchen used for food preparation, and spoke with the staff. Roman Mykhailovych explained that in October, the hospital provides three meals a day to approximately 110 people, with funding allocated by the local community. If there are additional sources of food supplies, this significantly saves budget funds, allowing the hospital to use these funds to cover other, urgently needed requirements.
“Participation in the Programme is important both for the hospital and for the patients staying here. And not only because of the availability of the food, but also its nutritional content, as it is fortified with vitamins, which promotes high-quality and healthy nutrition – and this is an essential element of recovery,” emphasised Roman Pukalo. “
“The programme is very well designed; the food basket contains basic ingredients from which many dishes can be prepared. There is just a little too much flour, as the meals in the hospital are dietary and flour is used in very small quantities. If possible, it would be worth replacing some of the flour with high-quality grains – semolina or rice, for example,” added Mr Roman.
Another facility in Rudky is participating in the Institutional Catering Programme. This is the ‘Rudky House of Mercy’ run by the Rudky Centre for Social Services, which is home to 30 people. The ‘House of Mercy’ cares for people with disabilities, internally displaced persons, and elderly people living alone.
Oksana Goshman, the manager of the ‘Mercy’ Home, noted that participation in the Programme is a great help to their institution. “We are delighted that we can prepare high-quality and nutritious meals for our residents every day, as we have plenty of food for this. Thanks to humanitarian aid, we can purchase these products, for which insufficient funds are allocated. These include fruit, meat and fish. Such a programme is very much needed, given the current situation in Ukraine,” added Ms Oksana.
Lydia Vasyuchin, the institution’s senior nurse, highlighted the high quality of the products received and noted that the recipients of the aid are satisfied with the food.
Incidentally, food storage is well organised in the institutions, records are kept, and there are practically no leftovers, which confirms their rational use.
Source: Lviv Agrarian Chamber