On February 28, 2022, Progetto Arca, in partnership with the NGOs Remar Romania and Remar Italia, departed from Milan with an initial convoy of five vans, one of which was the food truck, to deliver food and humanitarian aid to the thousands of Ukrainian citizens, especially women and children, fleeing the war. Since that day, adapting to the evolving circumstances and emerging needs, we have been working in Romania, Poland, and Ukraine to provide assistance and protection to those who lost everything in an instant.
In Siret, a Romanian city on the Ukrainian border, two emergency reception centers were set up in collaboration with Remar’s staff and in agreement with local authorities: one facility with 50 beds for women and children, and a second, larger shelter arranged in a gymnasium, accommodating over 500 displaced people. In addition to distributing meals and essential supplies, Progetto Arca handled the logistical procedures to ensure safe travel and facilitate family reunifications for refugees heading to other European countries.
Since April 2022, we have supported the opening of three social canteens in the cities of Oradea (Romania), Mostyska (Lviv region, Ukraine), and Chernivtsi (Ukraine). In partnership with Fondazione Fiera Milano, 25 trucks carrying 200 tons of essential goods were sent to the Romanian-Ukrainian border and to the Warsaw and Poznan fairgrounds in Poland, which had been converted into orientation and first reception hubs for thousands of refugees in transit.
Starting in August, thanks to funding from the Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo (AICS), Progetto Arca, Fondazione L’Albero della Vita, and Remar SOS launched a joint humanitarian aid initiative in the city of Chernivtsi, also known as “the city of the displaced.”
The project was implemented within two large tents set up in the central Sorbona Square, providing food support, psychosocial assistance, basic healthcare, and prevention activities against gender-based violence and human trafficking to an average of 1,200 people per day, mainly internally displaced persons and people in transit.
Over the 6-month duration of the project, 155,550 hot meals were distributed and 14,300 food parcels delivered, along with hygiene kits and essential items for cold weather protection.
February 2024 – ongoing. The war in Ukraine marks its third year. In the hope that we will no longer have to mark “war anniversaries” but only look toward horizons of peace, our commitment continues.
In 2024–2025, the intervention focuses on two multi-sector humanitarian aid projects, funded by AICS, across 8 oblasts (Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr) and 4 cities (Chernivtsi, Rivne, Irpin, and Kyiv).
The areas of intervention include education, healthcare, protection, water and hygiene, and emergency relief, involving a broad network of partners. Progetto Arca, together with ARCS, Fondazione CUMSE, Remar, and Sprouts of Hope Ukraine, is supporting over 130,000 people affected by the conflict, including displaced persons, impoverished families, children, vulnerable women, and single mothers.