Insulin for Life: A Seed Grant That Kept Treatment Within Reach

Evgenii Selikhov moves with the steady urgency of someone who has seen how quickly “later” becomes too late. As the founder of the grassroots initiative Just Help, he set out to protect a basic reality for refugees living with diabetes: treatment cannot pause for paperwork, border crossings, or a suddenly unaffordable pharmacy bill. His vision was direct: build a fast, accountable way to get insulin to displaced Ukrainians who needed it now, not after a system caught up.

Insulin for Life: Supporting Diabetic Refugees was designed for displaced people in Georgia who were waiting for official status or excluded from coverage long enough to put their health at risk. The approach combined speed with verification: medical documents were checked, insulin was purchased from licensed pharmacies, and medication was delivered directly to patients, making sure families didn’t have to choose between rent and a critical prescription.

The project operated primarily in Tbilisi, Georgia, supporting refugees displaced from Ukraine who were living with diabetes and facing barriers to steady care. Its focus centered on refugee health and access to essential medication, practical, lifesaving work that protects people from avoidable medical crises during displacement.

With The Pollination Project’s $500 seed grant, Just Help purchased and distributed 22 packs of essential insulin—NovoRapid, Apidra, and Lantus—reaching 7 people and providing 3 months of life-saving therapy. The team maintained 100% cold-chain compliance during transport and delivery, and moved medication from secure storage into patients’ hands without delay. To stretch the grant further, volunteers organized multiple trips to purchase insulin where it was more affordable and available, maximizing every dollar of this early philanthropic investment.

Just as importantly, the grant landed as a vote of confidence, fuel for volunteers and a signal that grassroots leadership deserves trust.

“We want to express our deepest gratitude not just for the funds, but for the trust you placed in a small, grassroots initiative like ours,” Evgenii shared, adding that the validation “gave our volunteers a massive morale boost” and felt like “a true partner in our mission.”

Insulin distribution isn’t like delivering canned goods—it requires precision, especially for refugees already carrying the stress of displacement. One of the toughest operational challenges was protecting the cold chain so insulin stayed at safe temperatures from purchase to delivery; volunteers used specialized thermal bags and coordinated air travel to keep doses viable all the way from pharmacy to storage to patient.

Just Help also centered accountability, keeping receipts and matching them against delivery confirmations to create a clear record of how a small philanthropic investment moved through the community and into people’s hands.

For grassroots leaders, that kind of seed support is also trust, morale, and momentum. Evgenii shared that The Pollination Project was among the first international organizations to back Just Help, and that it mattered during the hardest months.

“We want to express our deepest gratitude not just for the funds, but for the trust you placed in a small, grassroots initiative like ours,” he said, adding that the process felt “human-centric and respectful,” and that the validation “gave our volunteers a massive morale boost… Thank you for being a true partner in our mission.”

In philanthropy, scale often gets the spotlight, but microgrants can outperform expectations when they reach leaders who already know the problem and the path forward; TPP’s early support helped Just Help strengthen a reliable system that is now being used to sustain beneficiaries, expand through community fundraising events, and assist refugees in navigating disability status so they can eventually access state-funded healthcare, proof of what strategic seed funding can do to stabilize a fragile moment and protect health while a community-led solution grows.

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