The number of people that turned for food assistance to the ICCI Our House is constantly growing, and we are happy about that.
Every Thursday, on a first-come-first-served basis, we contact everyone who has applied for receiving groceries to meet up in our office once again. Various questions had been constantly popping up in the process, so we decided to answer the most frequently asked ones here. Click the question to see the answer.
Below the answers, you will find an application form that you can share with every Belarusian in Lithuania who has not applied for help yet.
If you call me, I do not know how to get to you. Where are you situated?
Our address is: Kareivių g. 11, Vilnius. If you have the app Google Maps established on your phone, click here, to find out how to get to our office. We are on the ground floor of an apartment building. You do not need to go to the entrance hall. Look for a separate entrance to the office: there is an inscription “НАШ ДОМ” (OUR HOUSE) on the windows of our office.
I filled in the application form, but nobody called me. Do I need to fill it in again?
If it happened over 2 months ago, then probably, the application was not submitted properly for some technical reasons. If that’s the case, we recommend to fill it in again on this page below. If less than 2 months, have passed, then probably, your turn has not come yet. In any case, you can always contact us in our Telegram channel and ask. We’ll figure out what has happened.
How long do I have to wait after submitting the application?
Everything depends on the amount of groceries that we receive on Thursday or on another day, and from the number of applications submitted before you. Sometimes you may get a call almost immediately, sometimes several weeks may pass. However, please, take into consideration, that on Thursdays when the total amount of delivered groceries becomes clear, and we call or text you, we cannot wait for too long. If you do not respond or answer the phone twice, we pass on to the next person in the queue. In such a case, we will call you back in a week.
You called me, but I could not answer. Do I need to fill in an application again?
No. We’ll try to contact you again the following Thursday or another day. This is why we ask you to take into consideration that the delivery is usually distributed around 6 p.m. on Thursdays and to be ready to plan your arrival to the office. We need time to prepare documents in advance. So, we contact all people who filed an application, to make a general picture of who is coming, and then prepare the documents for you to sign.
I cannot come around 6 p.m. on a Thursday. Can you save groceries for me?
Unfortunately, we cannot. The thing is, we receive groceries that should be consumed quickly. We do not have refrigerators for such amounts of products, therefore, we immediately start distributing them, so that nothing is left by the end of the day. The only exception are the groceries that can be stored without a refrigerator and with a long expiration term. However, that’s a rare occasion. Maybe it’s not the most convenient way, but we ask you to understand the situation and be ready for our call on Thursdays.
If another person comes instead of me, will you give the grocery products to them?
Unfortunately, we cannot. We have to make a photo for our reports. The applicant should be on the photo. Ask any family member over 18 who can come to our office at 6 p.m. on a Thursday when your turn comes, to fill in the form.
I really need help, but I have relatives in Belarus. Therefore, I do not want my picture to be published on the web site. Can I still get help?
Of course, we will still help you. In such a case, we will ask you if we can make a photo without a face. In case the situation is not so serious, and you are just not sure how you will look in the photo, please, trust us on this issue.
There are two types of photos. One photo goes to our report. That report goes to our partner in Lithuania, the charity food fund Maisto Bankas, that delivers food for you.
Another type of photo is the one that we would like to use on our web site in order to attract more non-indifferent benefactors and donors. That is why, we ask for your permission to publish your photo in the application. If you do not agree, we won’t publish your photos.
Yet of course, we would be very glad if you allow us to make a photo not just for our inner reports, but also for the website. It can help us get more help and assistance for you and for us, and that’s important for all Belarusians in Lithuania.
I need help a lot, but I am an asylum seeker, and I do not have any documents yet. Can I still get help?
We can still help you, and for that we’ll ask you to send us a picture of the last page of your passport for our report. If you have no documents at all because you have lost them, write to us on our Telegram. We will try to find a solution.
You have helped me once. Will I get help once again next Thursday? Do I need to fill in another application again?
You do not need to submit another application. However, you can get another grocery set not earlier than in two weeks. Depending on the total amount of applications, that period may increase. Unfortunately, we cannot provide groceries for everyone for the whole time period after the application, although we would really want to. It is a humanitarian support, not full provision.
I would like to get groceries for all members of my family. Does everybody need to fill in an application?
No, one family member over 18 who can come to our office at 6 p.m. on a Thursday when your turn comes, can fill in the form. You will have to answer a question in the application about the number of family members in Lithuania. Indicate the precise number of family members including you. Please, note, that we may ask to confirm the number of your family members by showing us documents of all of them. Therefore, please, indicate the number in good faith.
I am allergic to certain products. Can I choose what I get?
While receiving the groceries, you can refuse those that are bad for you. Then we will be able to share them with other people. However, we cannot guarantee we will be able to provide anything in return. You can make agreements with other people to exchange certain products. The process of forming grocery sets is carried out according to general rules. We do our best to divide all the received grocery products equally, taking into consideration the total number of people that we can help on a certain day.
How many products will I get? I want to know whether it is worthwhile to submit an application, if the grocery set isn’t too small.
This food assistance is for the Belarusians in a hard situation. Therefore, if you have an opportunity to provide for yourself and your family members, then you do not need to submit any application. As for the total amount of goods that you might receive, it’s not possible to predict it. On average, a person can get up to 15 kg of groceries for a family member for the period not less than 2 weeks. The weigh may vary depending on the supply.
What do I have to bring with me?
The first and most important thing is your ID. We need it to check data for our report. We won’t take copies of it. The second thing you should bring with you are plastic bags or, better, a backpack. The amount of the given grocery products may exceed an average bucket, so small bags are not good enough.
We have tried to take into consideration all the questions that arose in the process of food distribution, and created a single application form, that will always be on this page. If you have already filed an application, you do not need to do it again.
If you know Belarusians that have never turned to us for food assistance, share this page with them, and ask them to fill in the application form, step by step.