Your impact this winter

Your donation is providing warmth and safety to vulnerable refugee families, who are facing a challenging winter after already enduring so much hardship.

With your help, UNHCR is distributing urgent winter aid, including thermal blankets and shelter materials, to Afghan, Ukrainian and Syrian families.

How you’re helping in Afghanistan

The past year has been extraordinarily difficult for Afghan families. While winters in Afghanistan are always long and brutally cold, the devastating 6.1 magnitude earthquake that struck in June has made the situation even more perilous.

Alamir is among the earthquake survivors who is receiving winter assistance. After losing seven family members and his home in the devastating earthquake, he became the sole carer for his nine grandchildren.

With your support, UNHCR is on the ground constructing winter-ready houses for Alamir and other Afghan families in the worst-affected villages. The houses will be insulated and fitted with stoves, solar panels and toilets.

“UNHCR helped us a lot,” said Alamir. “UNHCR brought us stones, brought us cement, brought us wood and labour. All the labourers are busy and working here, and we are very happy with their contributions, it’s very good.”

Giving Ukrainians warmth

In Ukraine, you’re helping people like Valentyna, whose home in Kyiv was damaged by shelling. For months, Valentyna lived with gaps in the roof, while attempting to cover her windows with pieces of timber to keep the wind and rain out.

“When a bomb fell here, the doors were knocked down,” she said. “The explosive wave was enormous.”

With your support, UNHCR helped repair Valentyna’s home before the temperatures plummet and heavy snows fall.

Supporting families in Syria

In Syria, your gift is helping families like Khaled’s, who have been displaced again and again by the ongoing conflict. The 53-year-old father of six fled his home near Damascus in 2012 in search of safety. Since then, his family have been forced to move several times, and returned to their house in 2020 only to find the doors and windows destroyed. They have endured harsh winters for the past two years.

“We had to close the doors and windows with blankets to keep some warmth,” says Khaled.

UNHCR has installed doors and windows, and also restored some cabling and plumbing to help make the house liveable again – just in time for winter.

Our teams are on the ground right now, delivering your life-saving winter gifts. With your help, UNHCR:

• Aims to provide 50,000 families with winter cash assistance in Afghanistan, helping families purchase fuel to heat their homes
• Has distributed winter cash assistance to 211,844 displaced people in Ukraine so they can pay for essentials like rent and heating
• Plans to support 917,500 people in Syria with winter relief items such as thermal blankets, sleeping bags and warm clothes

Thank you for supporting vulnerable refugees during the Northern Hemisphere’s harsh winter months.

You can help us reach even more families in need. Donate to our Winter Survival Fund now to give refugees warmth and safety.

Donate now