Serving our Ukrainian Refugee Community
Furnish Hope serves people from all walks of life and all corners of the world. While most recipients claim Central Oregon as their home, our reach occasionally extends far beyond our immediate community to those who have fled humanitarian crises and sought refuge in the United States. Refugees account for 10% of our recipients, and since 2023, Furnish Hope - and the broader Bend community - has forged special connections with families displaced after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Refugees are ordinary people who have endured extraordinary loss. They have left their entire lives behind, fleeing often with just their clothes and journeying to a country where they have few connections, little knowledge of the customs or language and no clear path forward. They want to work, to find housing and to make sure their children can go to school. With resilience, courage and the help of an open community, there is hope for them to return to a life of dignity and security.
One Family’s Story of Hope
The Vasylchenko Family’s story embodies this journey. They lost their beautiful home and all their belongings when Russian forces bombed their town of Mariupol in 2022. All that remained was a teddy bear that their youngest child had received on the day of her birth.
This summer, Furnish Hope had the privilege of hiring two members of the Vasylchenko Family - Daniil (aged 21) and Nikita (aged 15). Despite their limited English, both young men expressed a strong desire to help support their families. Daniil and Nikita quickly became an integral part of a newly formed donations team, helping to support scheduling, logistics and transportation pickups for all Furnish Hope donation requests. They both became true ambassadors for Furnish Hope.
Just four weeks ago, the Vasylchenkos learned that they had qualified for a rental house. Furnish Hope invited them to our donation center to select furniture items, many of which had been collected by the boys only days before. The expressions of pride and joy on the faces of Daniil and Nikita that day were undeniable and indescribable. It was clear to all that they had succeeded in providing tangible help to their family.
“For me, having a home means there is always somewhere to return to, always somewhere to sleep, somewhere to eat. When you don’t have your own home, you never know where to go. When you have a home, in principle, most of the other problems simply don’t exist because you know where to return to and your personal comfort will always be there.” ~ Daniil
New Beginnings
Furnish Hope is humbled and honored to have been able to help refugees rebuild their lives. Since 2013, we have furnished six homes for displaced Ukrainian families arriving in Central Oregon, and several other Ukrainian families living outside the area where there is no furniture bank offering our services. Each family has its own story and each family has its own path forward. Our entire Furnish Hope community welcomes them and wishes them well!
From Left to Right
Top - Vasylchenko Family, Batanov Family, Sochylo Family, Vasylenko Family
Bottom - Morozov Family, Taranenko Family, Ivanov Family, Hryhorenko Family*
*Note: Anhelina Hryhorenko, aged 14, is a junior national champion and the daughter of a former Ukrainian national cross-country ski team member. Upon arriving in Bend, she found her place on the Mt Bachelor Sports Education Foundation (MBSEF) nordic ski team. Read more about her story and her family’s journey here.