Segodnya newspaper: It's wonderful that there are people who know how to turn into good wizards and make wishes come true!
Our readers became such wizards! The Intecracy Group consortium joined the campaign.
As a reminder, at the end of October this year we launched our social project "15 Good Deeds," timed to the newspaper's 15th anniversary. Segodnya journalists, bringing along gifts (sweets, balls, board games and so on), visited 15 orphanages and boarding schools. We asked the children what they would like to receive on St. Nicholas Day. For seven weeks we told our readers how the orphans live and what they wish for most. And a miracle happened! Not a day went by without someone calling the newsroom to offer help!
Some people brought gifts in expensive cars, others carried them in by hand. There were calls from pensioners asking us to come and collect gifts from them. "I've been into embroidery for a long time, so here are some very good threads for Masha. And here's a jar of jam and some walnuts. I don't know how well they feed them at the orphanage," said Nelya Vasylivna from Kyiv as she handed over treats for the Bohuslav orphanage. Inna, an entrepreneur from the capital, also came to the same orphanage: "I learned about a little girl called Tonya and went to buy her a hat and boots. Then I decided to go and give them to her in person. And since I have a bakery, I brought round loaves and buns for the children."
When we delivered readers' gifts to the orphanages ourselves, the little ones would ask: "Is this for me from St. Nicholas?" We answered: "Yes!" And it was true! Many of you chose not to give your names. "Kindness, unlike trouble, walks quietly," one woman told us as she brought winter jackets for first-grade girls and boots for the boys.
We are grateful to each and every one of you who gave the children a bit of your warmth — private entrepreneurs, charitable foundations, government bodies and simply everyone who cares!
Gifts: a robot from the prosecutor, immunity from the peacekeepers
"Let these children keep dreaming! Let them know that dreams come true," readers who brought gifts for the orphanages to our newsroom often said. Once again, we thank everyone who gave the children their dream. We will tell you about our reader-wizards in many more stories. And now, here is who got what in different corners of Ukraine.
Kyiv region
One Kyiv family anonymously gave presents to 10 children at once from Bohuslav (Kyiv region) and Crimea. When the donors saw the photo report of their gifts being handed out and the sad eyes of those who had received nothing, they gave presents to every child at the Bohuslav orphanage. Tanya from Kyiv brought us a hairdresser's set (her namesake had dreamed of one), as well as 5 cameras, several radio-controlled cars, a doll and more.
Kyiv's Arsenal football club and its technical partner NIKE gave young footballers goalkeeper gloves, shin guards and a raglan shirt. The Kyiv city branch of the Red Cross Society and the All-Ukrainian Union of Peacekeeping Operations Participants donated an immunity-boosting medicine to the children. Ihor Stepurin, director of the Samit-Knyha publishing house, put together a set of children's books for our young charges. The Kyiv Children's Fund arranged tickets to New Year shows for the children. Valik Bohdanov, founder and host of a percussion school for drummers, gave a music lesson at the Komarivka boarding school (Chernihiv region). Dariya and Tetyana Shevchenko gave toys and embroidery. Kseniya brought packs of diapers and many other gifts.
Donbas
Tetyana Budovskykh sent five-year-old Valyusha a doll with a pram. Olena Tkachenko from Donetsk sent the girls the same present.
Before the Shakhtar vs Juventus match, 17-year-old Dima and 15-year-old Pasha received tickets to the Donbass Arena from FC Shakhtar. Vladyslav Krasov, head of the local Snizhynka fan club, helped the boys get from Snizhne to Donetsk. The boys also received certificates for a year's subscription to Shakhtar magazine.
Dnipropetrovsk region
Having learned that 12-year-old Tolik would like to become a long-haul truck driver, the Svidomist charitable foundation for transport veterans decided not only to give the boy a present but also to take all the children for a ride in a truck cab. After reading that 11-year-old Ihor dreams of becoming a prosecutor, the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office decided to make the boy's dream come true and bought him a toy robot. Yuriy Syvytsky and Anton Marrero gave the children in Dnipropetrovsk region a wind-up mouse, a singing bunny and an MP3 player.
Crimea and Odesa
Gifts for the children of Crimea came from Seyar Kurshutov, Lev Mirimsky, Halyna Okhrimchuk and many others. The Shield Committee for the Protection of Citizens' Rights and Freedoms and the Assalam Charitable Foundation sent 20 sets of warm bed linen to Crimea. The Arab House NGO donated a set of New Year tree decorations. Persha Studia, the Kyiv studio of Wargaming.net (developers of the computer game World of Warplanes), gave Olya a game console. Nataliya from Kyiv bought a bicycle for young Artur from Odesa, as well as presents for his friends. Tamara Miteladze from Donetsk donated a video camera for the Crimean children.
Lviv and Kharkiv region
Anna Suvorova from Lutsk sent the children toys and sweets. Ruslan Hanzha donated a punching bag, toys and clothes. Olena and Iryna Tarasenko and Nataliya Polishchuk from Kyiv brought clothes for the children, toys and knitting yarn. And Iryna Petryna's family gave the children a whole hundred cups!
Source: Segodnya