December 18, 2017 – Youth from all eleven countries where the Ukrainian Youth Association is active, collected gifts as well as funds for their peers in Ukraine, whose fathers are participants of the cruel war brought upon by the Russian aggression taking place in the Eastern regions of Ukraine as well as internally displaced children.
The gifts, collected as part of the charitable project titled “Let’s fill their hearts with warmth”, will be delivered to children throughout Ukraine on the eve of Saint Nicholas Day. The Ukrainian Youth Association in Ukraine, through its branches in Kalusz, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Ternopil, Khmelnytsk, Novoaidar, Kramatorsk, Dnipro and Kyiv, will ensure that the gifts will reach the intended recipients.
In total, members of the Ukrainian Youth Association from Canada, Argentina, Australia, USA, Estonia, Germany, Belgium, France, Portugal, Great Britain and Ukraine collected over $50,000 ($25,000 in funds and $30,000 in goods) to bring over 2,000 children in Ukraine a Christmas gift that includes clothes, office supplies and sweets.
In Canada, members from all branches: Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Etobicoke, Mississauga, Hamilton and St. Catharines enthusiastically participated and collected $13,000 (US $10,000) in funds resulting in gifts for over 400 children.
“These gifts will be delivered primarily to those children, whose fathers lost their lives defending Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity as well as disabled children whose fathers are currently serving their country in the East,” said Yuri Ilyash, Project Coordinator and President of the Ukrainian Youth Association in Ukraine.
In addition to the children of soldiers, gifts will also be delivered to internally displaced children.
“Of course, we are not able to provide every child with a gift. We believe, however, that our project will bring warmth to the hearts of those boys and girls, who have lost a loved one and to those who are forced to celebrate Christmas far away from home,” said Yuri Ilyash.
Members of the Ukrainian Youth Association note that aside from the token material gift the project has significant moral benefit as testimony to the unity of Ukrainians around the world regardless of age or country of residence.
This is already the fourth “Let’s fill their hearts with warmth” project organized by the members of the Ukrainian Youth Association. Last and previous years’ efforts combined brought a ray of hope to over 1,800 children that were forced to flee their native Donetsk or Luhansk regions.
