Things for “thanks”: how volunteers in Chernihiv help the poor

A small but so succinct and multifaceted phrase "thank you" can express gratitude, courtesy, and respect; it's an identifier of sympathy, a working relationship, and productivity.

And if you still think that no matter how warm "thank you" is, "you can't put it in your pocket or eat," then Chernihiv will help you refute these prejudices. There, this magic word not only helps the needy but even became a kind of currency.

Two years ago, thanks to caring citizens, the first unusual store opened in Chernihiv. To pay for their products, you don't need money. Only for the words of gratitude can you get everything you need in the store — clothes, shoes, appliances, utensils, books, and even decor and cosmetics.

The project's initiator is a young entrepreneur, Yulia Hrebnieva. The "DiakuYU" charity store helps low-income and large families, pensioners, people with disabilities, migrants, and other categories of people who find themselves in difficult life circumstances.

Yulia, a commodity expert, and lawyer by education, has had her own business for many years, running her own grocery store in the local market, where the history of the now entire network of free shops "DiakuYU" began.