580 drawings and 115 thousand hryvnias: an initiative in support of children from Ukraine was held in Prague
From April 18 to 24, the Czech capital hosted an Easter fair, during which Ukrainians organized a fundraising center for children affected by the war. All philanthropists received as gift drawings created by children from Ukraine. Charitable foundations summed up the results of the charity week.
During the Easter week in the Czech capital Prague, the Ukrainian BGV Charity Fund in partnership with the Czech Foundation Children of Ukraine held an unusual event; volunteers invited visitors to the Easter Fair to help Ukrainian children affected by the war. For each charitable contribution, visitors received children's drawings collected in Khmelnytskyi, Lviv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv regions.
580 children's drawings have now found a new home in the homes of people who donated money for the benefit of Ukrainian children.
Volunteer of the project Anna said that during the campaign Ukrainian children were helped by people from all over the world: Mexico, the USA, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Poland, and many other Ukrainians:
"Two men from the United States are coming to us. They say they are going to Poland. They carry laptops and equipment for our guys. And they still help us too. The man shows a video of his granddaughter, where she supports him: she drew a picture of her grandfather helping the Ukrainian military. Let's hug and take a photo. I am impressed and grateful to the core.
A woman from Mexico comes with her son for the second day in a row. We hug, we cry, she supports us, not knowing the language, she points to the heart; everything is clear, she sympathizes and prays for our victory. She does not understand, as we do, how this can happen.
A girl from Bucha with a child and a mother, tears in her eyes, no answer from her father.
My heart sank…"
In total, the volunteers managed to raise 87,120 Czech korunas in the Czech Republic. This is more than 115,000 hryvnias.
Teams from two foundations (Czech and Ukrainian), a team of volunteers from different countries and caring people were involved in organizing the charity project.
"During the week of charity sale of children's drawings in the center of Prague, a large number of wonderful people joined the project. I would like to thank them all for their help and excellent teamwork. First of all, we are grateful to our incredible volunteers who worked at the charity location both in the rain and in the cold, always remained friendly, actively promoted the idea of helping Ukrainian children and were ready to talk to visitors at the fair. We are grateful to our partners, Mr. Libor Votruba and Taiko, who supported the idea of this charity project and provided a free kiosk at the Easter Fair. Our whole team gives congratulations and gratitude to the mayor of Khmelnytskyi Oleksandr Symchyshyn, whose team helped to collect a large number of drawings for the initiative in a short time. We are also grateful to everyone who visited our charity location, supported our team and all Ukrainians who shared their stories and helped financially with this initiative," said Oksana Michanova, head of the Czech Foundation Children of Ukraine.
By the way, the initiative was not limited to the Easter Fair in Prague but spread further. Nadia Stechyshyna, director of BGV Charity Fund, told one of the following stories:
"We were approached by a girl with Ukrainian roots who lives and works in Belgium. She and her husband own several restaurants there and have just gone to a convention of restaurateurs in Los Angeles, USA. So the two of them decided that it is possible to raise awareness about the problems in Ukraine and took about 20 drawings to hold a charity auction there and transfer funds to our fund.
And one of the benefactors, who now lives in the Czech Republic, chose a small number of drawings by Ukrainian children to continue raising funds online. Natalia Yashchuk held a Facebook auction among her acquaintances, raising almost 10,000 korunas, or more than 13,000 hryvnias, in favor of Ukrainian children in just one day. For the auction, she chose drawings that people could place at home as art objects. Now ten drawings have spread throughout the Czech Republic, and two more are heading to Germany.
"There were a lot of good drawings in fundraising. It was a pity that they could be seen only by those people who had the opportunity to come to the square. But I have friends who are happy to help and those who are interested in art, and I decided that I could choose a few drawings for them to fight for," says Natalia about how she decided to hold the auction. "The auction lasted only 24 hours. The calculation was that if a painting was not sold, it could be returned to the kiosk and possibly bought by someone else who would come to the square."
All funds raised by volunteers will be used to help children from Ukraine; they will buy and deliver food, medicine, hygiene products, and children's goods to children in Ukraine who need help.
"We will spend the funds raised on the needs of children," said Nadia Stechyshyna, director of the foundation. "We plan to buy goods for children in the Czech Republic and send them as a joint project of the two foundations in Ukraine. We do not yet know exactly where this humanitarian aid will go. Usually, we plan ahead: that, for example, we will bring help from the community in the Czech Republic to the community, for example, in Ivankiv. But at the moment we have a very strong volunteer movement in the country and the need that the community of conditional Ivankiv has as of now can be closed in two weeks. Because there are other volunteers who have already covered this need. Therefore, we are already trying to plan exactly closer to the date when this humanitarian aid will be delivered.
I want to help with the highest quality. The community of a settlement understands whether it needs it or not. And this is great respect for people because they try not to take away too much. I have already talked several times with various civil-military administrations, people in charge of social security, and so on. They say: we have it, we will not take it, and we need it, and maybe even a little more because there are a number of children who need it. That's why we will focus on the situation."
Note:
The BGV Charity Fund was established by representatives of Ukrainian businesses to help Ukraine during the war and rebuild the country after the victory. The Fund seeks, procures, provides legal support, and organizes the delivery of humanitarian aid to Ukraine for those in need, including assistance to children and cooperation with perinatal centers, maternity hospitals, and children's hospitals to provide the smallest patients.
The Children of Ukraine Charitable Foundation is a Czech charitable foundation focused on the upbringing and education of Ukrainian children under the age of 17 who had to leave their homeland due to the war, an attack by a russian aggressor. Assistance is provided with the support of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the Embassy of Ukraine in the Czech Republic, and volunteers from both the Czech Republic and abroad.
