One of Transcenda’s core values is Putting People First—our clients, our team, and local communities. We launched Transcenda Gives in September of 2021 in support of our communities.
To date, we have helped over 75 families.
When we first started Transcenda Gives, we focused our efforts on helping children, the elderly, and those with disabilities in our local communities. Transcenda Gives is now fully focused on helping Ukrainian families by providing them with medical support, shelter, food, clothing, and other essentials.
I have been part of Team Transcenda for about a year, working as a Technical Requirements Manager. My role involves understanding, documenting, and communicating project specifications for our engineering team. This enables us to deliver software as efficiently as possible while ensuring we are prioritizing the right features. I have a background in Automation QA and am working on growing into a Product Management role. Many of my colleagues at Transcenda are former acquaintances, and I really like the open-minded and friendly atmosphere here.
I have always donated to charities but never volunteered myself.
My husband and I left Ukraine a few weeks before the full-scale war started. Every day there was a storm of alarming news and I felt very uneasy, so we decided to go abroad for a couple of months and return once the situation was less tense. But it turned out the other way.
When the full-scale war began, my husband returned to Ukraine to help get my mom and 4 cats out of danger, while I was preparing to meet them abroad. During this time period I continued to focus on work but outside of my work hours, I knew I needed to do something to give back. I started volunteering for the fund, Help Ukrainian Mothers, a charity that Transcenda also supported. As Transcenda started to expand their efforts to support Ukrainians from purely donating to leading some initiatives, I was excited to have the opportunity to help lead Transcenda’s efforts. Having something I can do when I’m not working that allows me to help means a lot to me.
More than ever, I am grateful to have my career. I value the ability to work from any part of the world, the ability to be able to support myself and my family, and appreciate how supportive Transcenda is. I’m fortunate and feel the responsibility and urge to share that support with others. I am very grateful to Transcenda for extending their support, not only to their team members, but also to so many Ukrainians.
It is very heartwarming to understand that you can help even with the smallest amounts, you can listen to families’ stories and hopefully make them feel cared about. There is so much pain, loss and suffering out there, so even if we are able to cover the smallest need I feel that we have done our job well.
Initially, we primarily helped those who needed to move out of the direct war zones. Now the majority of requests are about food, clothes, medicines, hygiene products, housing, heaters, or other necessities. When people were leaving their homes, very few of them had the opportunity to pack properly and take their belongings with them. Settling in safer regions, they ended up having nothing. This is a terrifying situation to be in, especially in the face of an uncertain winter.
Sometimes people need one-time aid to pay for rent when they seek refuge in a bigger city. It’s easier to find employment there and usually, they are able to cover the housing cost after the first month. There was also a boy who started to lose vision due to stress. His mother couldn’t afford medical care and contacted us.
The war is horrific and people share a lot of stories. We are also there to listen.
As long as the war continues, we will support the people who need it. We do not promote ourselves in any way and people learn about us by word of mouth. So the requests we are handling come in waves, meaning that some months we are loaded with requests and others where there are only a couple of families.
Transcenda Gives is an agile initiative—we help where we see the need. We realigned when the full-scale war started and I believe we’ll find ourselves a role in which we’ll be able to help Ukraine rebuild and prosper.
