An Emergent Need in Support of Nataliya’s Free Café
Sep 11
7 min read
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~ The Untold Story of the Woman in Kharkiv Who Runs Business to Help the Locals ~
Those who have read my previous post [https://isseicreekphilosophy.wordpress.com/2025/08/13/the-legendary-con-man-who-even-deceived-president-zelenskyy-fuminori-tsuchiko/] would understand the situation well enough, but I will explain the story here with Nataliya’s own words for those who have not read my previous post.
Щоб прочитати цю статтю українською, будь ласка, натисніть тут. 日本語版はこちらです。
Natali Grama (Натали Грама), who began helping the local people of Kharkiv on the day the shelling began. I thought of summarizing her work and whet she went through briefly, but I found it more compelling to relay the story told to me by Nataliya herself. Below is the she experienced on her own account, when I asked her to tell me the detail as much as possible with pictorial evidence, which you can see https://photos.app.goo.gl/CeAXeNa1CiFhr3s87.
[translated by using ChatGPT = for the original text, please refer to the Ukrainian version of this post here]
“Hello, Issei. My journey of helping people began on February 24, 2022. When the shelling started, all the shops and cafes closed. That day I was off work. My employer called me and asked me to come to work at the café (right above the “Heroiv Pratsi” metro station), because people were hungry and the staff simply refused to come in for their shift. I agreed.
That day was terrifying for everyone, and people were in a panic. I worked the whole day. Men from the metro came and took food for their families. My family came to the metro station, which became our shelter — but I didn’t go down there until the evening.
When we finished work and I finally went down to the metro, I was shocked by the number of people. There were about 3,000 people, even though the station is designed for only 2,400. My family was able to fit into a small spot on the floor — we laid out some blankets and sat there. It was horrible! At that time, there were 2 children and 4 adults in our group.
That’s how the first days of the war began! I worked at the café, and when the shelling started, I would just run to the metro.
After a few days, my boss told me he was leaving with his family for Kyiv and could no longer supply food. I thought everything would come to an end. But he gave me the keys to the place and said I could use the café and take care of people as best I could.
Almost immediately, volunteers came to me and brought us a lot of food, so we were able to continue our work. With my husband and friends who responded to the call for help, we provided people with food and hot drinks.
This continued until April 18th. That night, during a shelling, the wiring was damaged, and we were left without electricity. I tried to fix everything, but…!
With the permission of the station chief, I became the senior volunteer and storekeeper in the metro. I was responsible for distributing humanitarian aid and food. We brought in some furniture and tables and continued to help people.
When it became clear that the war would continue, people started to leave Kharkiv for safer cities. In May, the local authorities decided to reopen the metro station, and they began resettling people into dormitories. Only those who did not want or were afraid to leave the metro remained. About 150 people were left. Mostly elderly and sick individuals. There were also families with children and those who cared for them. It was only in June that Fuminori came to us.
Fuminori seemed very friendly and offered us help. We started buying food for breakfast, medicines, and hygiene supplies.
Honestly, only now do I recall that when other volunteers brought aid, Fumi claimed it as his own and reported it to the people in Japan as if he had provided it himself.
Together with Ken (the other Japanese person), we were provided with a refrigerator for storing food. Together with a volunteer from Poland, we purchased electric stoves and tableware. Sometimes I would cook something tasty for the children. 😊
This photo was taken in the first days of the war. [photo here] Our soldiers used to come to my café. They always told me that only at my place could they truly feel at home, and for them, that was incredibly important. 🥰
The café where I was feeding people was destroyed on August 5, 2022. Thank God no one was hurt, because the massive shelling happened at 11 o’clock at night.
I wanted to have a café to support my family and at the same time provide meals for people in need. When Fuminori learned about my dream, he offered to help me open a completely free canteen with the support of his followers. He said that after the war ends, it would become mine and I could do whatever I wanted there. I agreed—it was very important to me! I thought I would feed thousands of people with free meals, and over time I could turn it all into my dream.”
This is what she told me when I asked her about the situation leading up to her meeting with Fuminori in June of 2022.
From Ms. Nataliya’s Facebook post – unlike Fuminori Tsuchiko, she posts every activity of the day at the café and submits the bills paid by the donor’s money. What I would like to ask you, who are reading this article, is ask Fuminori 1) to disclose his pictorial or financial evidence as to how the money is being used. For obviously, it does not look good to only complain about his own VISA status and ask for money for things we do not know what he is using for. And also please contact Ms. Kano on Facebook as she herself should know how the money is being spent. You can contact her here: https://www.facebook.com/akiko.kano.77
Both of them should be able to answer these simple and matter-of-fact questions that is at the core of any charity or volunteer event for the least they could do for their supporters. If Nataliya can do it, as you can see her activities and bills on the album that will be constantly updated as new payments will be paid, there is no reason why Fuminori or Ms. Kano in Los Angeles (who sometimes lies to be in Kharkiv according to her own account relayed to me privately so that she could get more money easily that she she made it appear she is also in Kharkiv) could not do it.
I will repost here some of the posts from Nataliya’s Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/natali.grama.2025
So know where to donate and keep in touch with her posts. She will have to pay her bills for electricity and rent etc… at the first week of the month, but thanks to her societal contribution, they can usually wait for a few weeks, but she says she is always in debt and has to find someone who could help her with the money – since all money goes to Fuminori’s since he is more famous and nobody knows who he really is. Just the other day, Fuminori pretended (without saying anything) to have just received the Presidential Awards from President Zelenskyy and other gubernatorial awards as if they were received just this summer – which made even the Ukrainians ask each other “Did he get award again this year?” to which Fuminori remained silent. He is using his old pictures to collect money and he has stopped showing pictures of his own café for over 8 months now. Please somebody ask him what he is doing. On my end, I will try my best to get the most recent news on his café as soon as I can get them, so stay tuned!
Support for the people of Ukraine
Where to DONATE: Any of these works. I, the author myself, have donated to her using PayPal and it went very smoothly.
Official Account :
BECAUSE BF “UKRAINIAN BEREGINI”
Canteen for charity sunrise
Receiver’s account:
UA643052990000026005015917261
Receiver code: 45134052
Bank name: Kharkiv GAME AT CB “PrivatBank”
2. PayPal
Guardiansuafund@gmail.com
3. Refill the envelope via Privat24
https://www.privat24.ua/send/cwch7
4. gofundme.com
https://www.gofundme.com/…/ukrainian-guardians-charity…
Together we are strong
Nataliya constantly mentions those who have helped her café alive and feed the local people as a token of thanks, as seen below.
24.08.2025. Ukraine Kharkiv – Ukrainian Independence Day
@_sunrise_2024_ congratulated children and parents on “Independence Day of Ukraine”
So grateful to our friends for the support and the incredible atmosphere of holidays and love
For carrots:
Peggy Barroll
Amy and Bruce Friedman
Charlotte Mayhew
Brian Jones
Anne E. Niemic
Janet Mikus
Martin E. Shoemaker
Christopher Maeder
David Pottinger
Andreas Wüst
Susan Shure
Anette Weidner
With your support – our holiday nabulo beauty and love
Thank you very much
We also sincerely thank our friends:
H.U.G.S. Helping Ukraine – Grassroots Support
Гончаренко Центр Харків education and culture
Українська Федерація Банків Продовольства
You made an unforgettable atmosphere of holidays and good
Together – we make miracles
23.08.2025 KharkivUkraine
Today we received incredible support from our friends and partners Українська Федерація Банків Продовольства
Thank you for the delicious breakfasts for the kids and the nice sauce for the free lunches at our facility «Sunrise» благодійна їдальня 🇺🇺
Together we are capable of miracles
Гуманітарна Нова пошта your ongoing support is without exaggeration – an invaluable contribution to the history of volunteering and kindness at our time.
Thank you very much
Фонд «Українські Берегині» – sincerely thanks for supporting points and timely help to our Humanitarna Diia
You are incredible
Combining goodness and effort – we are capable of incredible miracles
Together we are strong
