Being a volunteer and having been in this movement for over 15 years, I have come to the conclusion that volunteering is integral to the existence of a free and democratic society. 

Volunteering is not just helping, it is primarily about enabling rights for life, conscience, and values. It is a matter of responsibility to create the kind of society in which we want to live: consuming and taking advantage or uniting and building a world we believe in. 

A volunteer is always a warrior because the war never really ends - in 'peacetime' you act and fight against a corrupt system or ignorant parts of society. And in wartime you are the one who 'plugs the holes' of the state's policy: you supply while the bureaucratic machine is spinning. You evacuate people and animals, deliver food and medicine to civilians on the front line.

The volunteer movement in Ukraine emerged as a mass phenomenon during the Revolution of Dignity. The harder the government put pressure on the people trying to usurp their power, the more the people united and resisted being broken. 

The authorities were secretly taking measures to leave the protesters without support: for example, they banned the sale of products used to keep warm. The protests (which became an uprising) took place from November to February when temperature can go down to -30 degrees. By watering down people with water cannons, the authorities hoped the dissidents would not be able to withstand the cold and would disband. 

People raised money and secretly bought these necessities wherever they could, despite the fear of being illegally detained by the police, sometimes for days. 

...I remember how scary it was when we tried to prevent Kharkiv police from being sent to Kyiv to suppress the protest there by force - a crowd of men hired by the mayor's office attacked us. They were shouting and waving bats, threatening women and teenagers, and beating men who came within reach.

From the windows of the buses, police cadets looked at what was happening with frightened eyes. At that time, massive discrediting of both the anti-government movement and people involved began in the media. For example: in this case, the government-controlled news aired a video that showed men with bats beating people and the commentator saying protesters are fighting with among themselves.

Similar attacks and beatings, used as a method of intimidation, took place in all major cities of Ukraine. Yet despite this, people kept coming out to the squares. The Maidan in Kyiv continued to function — volunteers provided food, hot tea and coffee, protective gear, and everything needed to endure. It was in these moments that a powerful volunteer movement was born.