For many families living in poverty across Eastern Europe, winter brings fear and uncertainty. Temperatures drop well below freezing. Fuel costs rise and work becomes scarce. Parents are left struggling to keep their children warm, healthy, and safe.
Larisa, 49, had been without work for three months when winter set in. Recently separated from her husband, whose drinking had frightened their four children, she was now raising them alone, with almost no income and few job opportunities.
With no money for fuel, Larisa gathers branches wherever she can. When that wasn’t enough, she made a painful decision. “I had no other solution than to cut down the walnut tree in our yard so we could heat the house,” she said.
Help keep a family warm this winter
By giving today you can make a huge difference to a family suffering in freezing temperatures, like Larisa's.
A gift of £25 will provide winter clothing, footwear, blankets, and bedding to someone living in deep poverty and struggling in the cold weather.
A gift of £55 will supply a cubic meter of firewood or briquettes for a vulnerable family to help them stay warmer during the harsh winter.
A gift of £90 will help support a single person on the streets for two months through our Street Mercy programme, providing hot food, clothing and hygiene products and helping to provide access to health services as needed.
Everything changed for Larisa when Oleg from Mission Without Borders arrived at their home. He brought warm winter clothing and shoes for each child – in their favourite colours – and 500kg of heating briquettes to help the family survive the winter.
“We couldn’t have afforded these briquettes ourselves,” Larisa said. “The cost of firewood in Moldova is £55 per cubic metre. To keep our house warm we would need three or four cubic metres.”
Over 300 families kept warm
In 2025 heating briquettes were given to more than 300 children and families living in poverty in remote villages.For families like Larisa’s, Mission Without Borders’ winter survival support is life changing. Last winter alone, the Mission provided heating briquettes to more than 300 children and families living in poverty in remote villages.
No family should face winter alone because every child deserves warmth, protection, and the chance to grow.
Please give your winter survival gift today and help keep children warm and safe this winter.
