Secret Santa delivers much-needed medicine (04/12/18)
A feel-good story for the day:
Recently, an orphanage reached out to Bright Kids asking for help to provide medicine for a child in their care.
Yesterday, we were able to deliver a supply of the medication required thanks to a very special secret Santa, who wishes to remain anonymous.
Thank you secret Santa; because of your kind generosity, we were able to offer another child a very merry Christmas in good health.
International Volunteers Day (05/12/2018)
To help celebrate Internation Volunteer Day on December 5th, Bright Kids gave a special presentation thanking volunteers for their tireless contributions, presenting our plans for the future and congratulating all those who have worked to support the charity on our collective achievements.
Volunteers shared their stories as we celebrated the generosity of people who believe that true altruism is the foundation for the progression of our society.
As a small token of our appreciation, Bright Kids awarded Certificates of Appreciation to our active volunteers and took the time to recognize the importance of their contributions on International Volunteer Day.
Our strength is our volunteers. To everyone who offers help, visits children in need, participates in our activities, gives generously of time, funds or other donations, as well as all those who spread the word about Bright Kids, we thank you.
Your contribution helps us make the lives of children brighter.
We are just getting started and we have lots of exciting new projects and activities planned. We couldn’t do it without your help.
A sincere thanks to all our volunteers, donors and supporters. Your efforts help make every life count.
A big thank you to our photographer Zhanna Golub!
Clothing for Kids – A photo essay (08/12/2018)
Here is our photo-report of the clothes sent to the orphanage in Dovbysh by Olesya Petrushevskaya.
We know that many of you keep on sending clothes to this orphanage.
Thank you for making sure kids have a warm winter!
Volunteers Visit an Orphanage near Skvira Town (13/12/18)
We had a great time celebrating the season at an orphanage near Skvira (Kyiv region), where 25 children of various ages live in care.
We are grateful to:
The Bright Kids team had a wonderful time! After the folktale performance, the children treated us to homemade pies and handcrafted gifts, which we treasure.
On our way home, we stopped at the hospital to surprise one of the girls from the orphanage with gifts and well-wishes for her fast recovery.
Bright Kids volunteers hope to visit the orphanage again soon to share more experiences and offer classes. We hope to establish regular visits to help inspire these young people to know what they are capable of.
A Trip to the Center of Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Children, Kyiv (17/12/18)
Our motto for our trip to the center was ‘miracles happen!’
‘Miracles Exist’ (ЧУДО ЕСТЬ), our project partners, helped us create some magic for the kids living at this center by fulfilling their wishes.
We asked the children to compose their Christmas-gift wish list so that we could send it to Santa.
The children drew pictures and wrote letters, and Saint Nick delivered!
The children received presents, ate treats and celebrated a special occasion with our volunteers.
It is our hope that these kids remember our visit and see that miracles can happen in their lives too. This was our second festive season trip, and we are excited to continue with more.
We wish to thank:
Yulia Slabinskaya, Elena Guzii, her son Daniil, and Marina, for your generosity and attention.
All of our kind donors and sponsor who helped make this event possible.
A Happy New Year Event for Dovbysh orphanage (18/12/18)
On the 18th of December, 36 children from the Dovbysh orphanage were invited to a New Year party at the Premier Palace in Kyiv.
Bright Kids Charity was contacted by Olesya Manolova who donated tickets for children to attend the event. We immediately started looking for transport.
We are lucky to be surrounded by many helpful individuals and companies. One kind family, who wish to remain anonymous, sponsored our transportation for the occasion, but we are very grateful to their young son who generously donated his savings of €30 to ensure that other children had a special new year.
We are also grateful to the transport company who offered us reduced rates for the hire of their vehicles.
This wonderful opportunity meant that children who have never traveled to the capital city before were able to experience new things and see places they had only imagined. The Premier Palace boasts an elevator with a panoramic view of the city, dangling chandeliers and plushly decorated halls. Exposure to new experiences and places helps children to broaden their perspective and realize more opportunities for themselves.
A special thanks to:
Maxim Stepanov’s Foundation (Фонд Максима Степанова) for the spectacular New Year’s performance, gifts and beautifully decorated hall. The kids really enjoyed the festive atmosphere and were very impressed by the beautiful surrounds.
Thank you to our partners and friends:
Tatiana Repa, Olesya, Tatiana Sobetskaya and Lilia Polukovskaya for making this project happen.
A Happy New Year at Dovbysh Orphanage (21/12/18)
Yesterday we visited the orphanage at Dovbysh, and this time Snow Maiden (Elena Melnik) and Santa (Vlad Fisun) joined us for special New Year’s programme.
Secret Santa brought the children gifts, which was organized by Tatiana Gnatyuk , Nataly Volik, Olga Soboleva, Irina Rudenko and other kind donors; and Yulia Slabinskaya, Tatiana Slyusar, Olga Kuz, Ludmila Vasilyeva, and our photographer Zhanna Golub also joined us. Thanking you all for your help and involvement.
We were surprised to receive handcrafted gifts from the children and we will share the details in a separate post.
It was a wonderful and festive occasion.
We would like to thank the orphanage administration team, including Vadim Romanchuk, Lilia Polukovskaya, Tatyana Sobetskaya, for the warm welcome.
Special thank you to Yurii Rakotsi and Yurii Yatsenko for helping us on regular basis. Their kids, Amerisis and Akim, also joined us and were very helpful and got involved in all the activities.
It was a very special festive occasion.
End of Year Trip to the Center of Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Children, Kyiv (30/12/18)
On the 30th of December, we made our final trip of the year to the center. We had mixed feelings of joy and sadness during the trip. Although we are always happy to visit the kids, we felt some sadness knowing that some of the children living there don’t have parents, while others are waiting to return to their families, and others dream of finding a family.
Thanks to tireless efforts of our volunteers, who are even more appreciated during the busy festive season, we were able to organize a special day of master-classes, a visit from Santa and Snow Maiden, and gift giving.
Nata Kolomoets and Maryna Smoliy baked 75 gingerbread men and showed the children how to decorate using icing and lollies. Each child crafted their own design, and had lots of fun decorating their gingerbread men, as well as each other! The best part was eating the delicious gingerbread.
Nataliia Nikiforova hosted a wet felting master-class (the process of combining layers of wool roving and/or wool yarns into one flat piece of felt fabric) and the students learned how to make Christmas-tree decorations.
We appreciate all the gifts and clothing and funds donated to Bright Kids Charity so that we could make this experience a reality for the children from this center. A special thanks to the team of wonderful people who helped us make this celebration happen:
Yuliia Rudakova, Tanya Bankovich, Yurii Yatsenko, Yurii Rakotsi, Olga Kuz’, Viktoria Nekipelova, Liudmila Bond, Oksana Odokienko, Tatiana Boychenko.
We would also like to thank Snow Maiden Elena Mel’nik and her husband, Santa Kostya for their kind contribution to our New Year programme.
Thank you to all the people and other benefactors who have contributed to Bright Kids this year, including all those who wish to remain anonymous, we rely on your kindness and generosity to brighten the lives of these kids and offer them opportunities for a better future.
We wish you and your families all the best in 2019!