Nelia Orlova has been working as a cook for 45 years. She was born and lived all her life in the village — she knows everyone, and everyone knows her. When the war came, she stayed, she did not leave. And, as she says herself, none of the locals waited for orders or instructions: people united on their own to help the army.

From the first days of the full-scale invasion, Nelia Frantsivna together with other women made varenyky, baked pies, cooked hot meals for Ukrainian soldiers. They delivered the food themselves — to the units stationed near the village. The soldiers, touched by this support, gave flowers. “We wanted them to feel at home,” says Nelia. Every morning the women went to work as to an ordinary job, because they knew: the boys were waiting. Her daughter, who works in a kindergarten, also got up at dawn — to knead dough, to cook, to help.

Now in the lyceum, where Mrs. Nelia cooks, there is a strong volunteer center.  Retired women and youth also joined the work.

In Nelia’s story there is also personal pain. Her nephew was killed at the front, her son-in-law was wounded, but returned to the front line again.