The Slots City Foundation’s 6 priority aid programs and directions for army and the displaced persons

The Slots City Foundation has divided its activities into six priority programs, through which volunteers provide assistance to the military and displaced persons. Each of these programs involves not only active work by the foundation itself but also the engagement of partners in each direction.

Three programs related to the procurement and repair of equipment have become priorities for the Foundation: drones (Free Sky), vehicles (Free Land), and watercraft for military use (Free Sea). Additionally, two targeted assistance programs, “Free People: Army” and “Free People: Help,” focus on aiding military personnel and displaced persons, respectively. Another program involves supporting technical developments for the military, known as Free: Military-Tech. Each program is named after the “Free People” project initiated by the foundation’s volunteers after the full-scale invasion. The priority programs encompass all partnership projects and interaction development currently undertaken by Slots City Foundation volunteers.

The two largest areas of work for the Slots City Foundation, united under the name “Free People,” involve targeted assistance to the military and displaced persons. “This has been the motto of our foundation since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, as our volunteers are truly free people,” explains Artem Stogniy, director of Slots City Foundation.

“Our volunteers provide a lot of targeted assistance to the military; each of us has relatives, friends who have gone to the frontlines, and we help them. We also support defenders who reach out to our foundation through social media. Soldiers often request very specific equipment such as night vision devices, thermal imagers, thermal sights, sometimes rifles or other weapons. Then we seek out experts and assist them within the limits of our capabilities and the law. We also help people who have fled from occupied territories. Entire families often reach out, asking for clothing, food products. This support operates through our website: people fill out applications, and we process them in turn,” says Artem.

“One of our biggest programs is ‘Free Sky,'” says the director of Slots City Foundation. “It combines several areas of work with drones: we purchase new ‘birds’ and also assist their developers. Currently, we have started a major direction in working with FPV drones and long-range drones, as well as jointly with partners, repairing copters damaged on the front lines. Our guys know that they can hand over such drones to us for repair absolutely free of charge and get them back repaired to continue working.”

The foundation actively assists the front lines with vehicles as well. “Free Land” is another major program, consisting of three parts: vehicles initially sent to the front, vehicles repaired after battles, and the re-equipping of trophy equipment. “Preparing evacuation medical vehicles is crucial for the foundation team and partners, as they save lives in key moments,” shares Stogniy. “Trophy equipment, trucks, armored vehicles come to our partner mechanics from the guys who cannot repair them in field conditions. This is a very specific direction that requires detailed technical preparation, but we undertake and fulfill such requests from the military.”

The “Free Sea” program for repairing watercraft emerged in response to military requests. “Fierce battles are taking place on the southern front—both at sea and on the Dnieper River. There is a foothold on the Left Bank, and our guys constantly ferry across on watercraft. Their boats get smashed, explosives are dropped on them, and they are targeted by enemy FPV drones, artillery, and mortars. Therefore, many boats become inoperable, and unfortunately, we suffer human losses. So, the military requested our volunteers to create a technical support station for marine infantry. And we gathered specialists who can quickly repair engines, select parts, and know all the professional nuances,” Artem explains.

The Free: Military Tech program is relatively new for the foundation. It involves projects for technical developments for the military, primarily software development. Partners of the program prepare a prototype, test it, and with the foundation’s assistance, can start mass-producing innovations. “We have helped developers of electronic warfare systems, and we already have excellent results. And also, to guys who develop FPV drones, they also receive contracts from the state,” says Artem.

Thus far, the foundation has been developing programs for targeted assistance to the military and displaced persons, as well as repairing vehicles, drones, and watercraft for the army. In 2023, Slots City Foundation volunteers collected over a thousand targeted donations for the army and displaced persons. Primarily, they provided drones (511 new and over a thousand repaired in partnership with workshops), vehicles, and watercraft (purchased and repaired with friends and partners of the foundation) and procured equipment and gear for brigades, humanitarian aid for displaced persons and residents of settlements affected by combat operations. Additionally, the foundation assisted medics treating soldiers.