Hi Good People,

We all are concerned about the Ukraine crisis. There is so much pain, suffering, and human tragedies. Millions had to fleece to their homes and leave behind everything. Among them are those who do not even have families or for various reasons they cannot be with their families: orphanages, foster care, Child Care Homes (I will refer to all of them as Care Homes). I am in contact with one of them. I promised myself that I will do everything in my power to help them and if I will have even more power I will try to help other children from other Care Homes. Therefore this fundraising will be shared between two recipients described below. This action plan is an effect of few days of planning and contacting various places to gather information and authorisations. Please read this through and if You have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

Please visit Facebook Event for this fundraising, where You will find many interesting activities:

https://www.facebook.com/events/458145899462927

What is my goal?

Far as I am aware the Ukrainian Government funding for Care Homes is usually 5500 UAH per child, per month and this is equivalent to 150£ (before the crisis). Therefore my goal is to collect support for RECIPIENT nr 1 for at least one month. That means because there are 8 children I would like to collect at least 1200£ as my goal, which will provide an aid for them for one month. If the amount collected will be higher than this, then additional funds will go to Happy Kids, described as RECIPIENT nr 2. However if any “over goal amount” will be substantial, I will run a poll on FB event and everyone who follows the event will have a chance to put his/her vote about the percentage that should go to each of the recipients.

Fundraising will be closed by 23th of March 23.59 and transfers will be made on the 24th and I will put a proof of transfer on the FB event website. This may be extended, if target will not be achieved or supporters will agree to keep going once target is achieved after this date.

What I will do for this fundraising?

1) Between 20-22 March I will do solo The Welsh Three Peaks Challenge.

2) I will run an eBay auction with an amazing picture of the Sunrise from Snowdon Mountain made a year ago by myself. The picture will be in A4 format in a beautiful frame. 100% of income will be transferred to the fundraising.

3) On one of the days I will bake by myself my famous brownie and I will deliver the next day to the person that will offer the highest donation to participate in this fundraising.

4) I am trying to support in various ways, local donations in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire.

5) Separately but still in the line of this fundraising I am trying to manage dedicated donations (clothing, toiletries, etc.) for RECIPIENT nr 1.

5) Every one of those events will be described separately on the main FB event.

RECIPIENT nr 1. Dzieci Domu sw. Janiny from the town of Vorzel, Kurortna St. 9b, Kyiv District. The Care Home is run by local Nuns/Sisters (for this fundraising I will refer to as a Sister), mostly by Sister Karmela. For the purpose of children safeguarding, I am not allowed at this moment to provide their pictures.

How did I find them?

Every one of my smart devices had been bombarding with various news, but none of them said anything about Children from Care Homes and even if I tried to find independent information, I was almost unsuccessful. I decided that I must at least try to change this. I asked myself, what an overall family person with a standard job can change? Probably not much, but for sure it will be much less if I do nothing. Because of the language barrier (I do not know the Ukrainian Language), it took me three days to find a contact. I even had to speak with one person in Italy and that lady gave me a direct contact number to this Care Home (RECIPIENT nr 1).

What is their story?

When the crisis began they had to immediately leave their address in Vorzel. They had only 10 minutes to leave. Vorzel is located very near Hostomel Airport, Irpien, and Bucza, where the heaviest fights are near the capital of Kyiv. They managed to find a place of safety in Berdyczow on the south of Żytomierz, where they were supported by the local citizens and other Sisters. However fights reached even that place after 3 days, especially in nearby Winnica. During a night waiting for transport, fights were so heavy that Sister Karmela told me: “I am not sure if we will survive until morning.” However, they survived and managed to find another “place of safety” in the town of Mostyska in close distance to the Polish border. At this point, I was able to support them with a little emergency aid (I have proof of transfer of course) and I contacted them with Happy Kids, a charity in Poland that will be able to support them in the evacuation process to Poland if they will need to do so. Sister Karmela stays with a group of two boys and four girls aged 12-18 years old. Two other boys had to stay in Kyiv, because of President’s Zelensky order.

RECEPIENT nr 2. Happy Kids – Fundacja Pomocy Dzieciom.

I have decided to involve them within this fundraising, once I found them and contacted RECIPIENT nr 1. They are doing an amazing job and they have already evacuated thousands of children to places of safety in Poland. The day before the start of this fundraising I had the pleasure to speak directly with the vice director over the phone and I received a very warm appreciation for my idea. Here are a few words about them from their website

“In the interest of preserving the life and health of children, in the face of the ongoing war in Ukraine, The Children’s Aid ‘Happy Kids’ Foundation, in cooperation with the City of Łódź, has launched an initiative to save the most vulnerable victims: children from orphanages and foster care.”

“We are an organization that aims to create and run family orphanages, where kids who were neglected, abused, marginalized, and deprived of the care of their biological parents find shelter and love for many years.”

Here You have a link to their English-version website for further reading:

https://www.happykids.org.pl/?lang=en