The Danville Alamo Chapter of nonprofit Grateful Gatherings unveiled a fully furnished home Saturday to a Ukrainian family who fled their country in 2022.
Thanks to the help of volunteers and donations, the organization was able to gift the family an abundance of home furnishings including beds, couches and kitchen appliances.
Around a year ago, despite their efforts to keep their family safe in Ukraine, Dima, Galyna and their young son Dima Jr. had no choice but to escape the Russian occupied region through Poland with only three bags of belongings. After multiple months of waiting to enter the U.S., a program called United for Ukraine placed them with a host in Danville who has welcomed them into her home for the past year. This past weekend the family got to see the big reveal after volunteers helped to make their new apartment a home. Done all in one day, the family was speechless as they stepped inside their newly furnished apartment for the first time.
Grateful Gatherings volunteers help furnish the home of Dima, Galyna and their 10-year-old son Dima Jr. right before the big reveal in Danville, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2023. (Diane Dwyer/Grateful Gatherings via Bay City News) 
Grateful Gatherings volunteers hang up a family portrait of the Ukrainian family in their new home in Danville, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2023. (Diane Dwyer/Grateful Gatherings via Bay City News) 
Grateful Gatherings volunteers pose in front of a moving truck filled with the family’s full home furnishings in Danville, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2023. (Diane Dwyer/Grateful Gatherings via Bay City News)
“It really looks like home,” Galyna said, fighting tears. “Our first plan, we will be grateful everyday.”
Grateful Gatherings is an organization that helps about eight to 10 households a month by donating household items to local families who deserve a safe home, according to their website. Grateful Gatherings partners with over 50 Bay Area nonprofit agencies that refer households to them and then are partnered with a community that would like to help. From there, a list of materials is referred for donations, things like curtains, artwork and TVs to outfit the entire residence.
It’s about giving they all they need to move out of crisis and live life. It’s so much more than just a roof over their heads.
Grateful Gatherings co-founder Christine Flitter
“It’s about giving them all they need to move out of crisis and live life,” said Grateful Gatherings co-founder Christine Flitter. “It’s so much more than just a roof over their heads.”
Grateful Gatherings will be hosting their first gala in Lafayette to celebrate their 10th anniversary on Oct. 28.