Before the CHARITY GUIDE platform appeared, we were already creating projects, initiatives and joint efforts that gradually shaped our understanding of how much people can change when they are united by a single idea.

All of these projects were entirely volunteer-based. Most often they started as our initiative funded personally, and over time they were joined by friends, acquaintances, volunteers and simply caring people. Those who were ready to take the next step together for something important. In this way, teams, collaborations and initiatives gradually formed, and over time they began to live their own lives and change the surrounding space.

Among these projects were initiatives in urban landscaping and greening, support for medical institutions (hospitals, intensive care units…), help for elderly people and children left without parents, educational projects, and initiatives whose main goal was to preserve life and health.

All of this happened before the CHARITY GUIDE platform appeared. But this path and the experience we gathered gradually became part of the understanding that even small actions can create changes that last far beyond a single moment.

Many of these initiatives emerged in different years, under different circumstances and together with different people. Some projects were created independently, while others were implemented jointly with volunteers, friends, organizations and people who were already working on their own initiatives and were ready to combine efforts for a common result. And some were projects that had already been created earlier; our task was to breathe new life into them, give them new opportunities and create new prospects and goals.

One important area was urban environment improvement. Thousands of trees and shrubs were planted, alleys were created, including cherry blossom alleys, and green zones and parts of the Odesa Botanical Garden were maintained. Benches, landscaping elements and small architectural forms and fountains appeared, which over time became part of the city’s everyday life.

Special attention was given to projects in the field of medicine. Equipment was purchased for hospitals, neonatal intensive care units, neurosurgery, pediatric oncology and other areas where such help made a real difference to preserving health and life.

Social initiatives also made up a significant part. Food parcels were delivered to elderly people, children in boarding schools were supported, and holiday projects and initiatives were organized to give at least some time, attention and a sense of care to those who needed it most.

Among these initiatives were the “Window of Life” projects – special boxes installed in maternity hospitals in Odesa for cases when a mother decided to part with her child. Their purpose was to preserve the child’s life and health by making it possible to safely place the baby under the protection of doctors.

There were joint and educational projects with the police. A unique educational project together with firefighters. Projects with city structures in education, tourism and beyond!

But more important than the projects themselves was something else. Behind almost each of them stood people who once decided not to walk past. People who joined in, supported, offered ideas, took on part of the journey and became part of the common movement.

It was this experience that later became one of the reasons CHARITY GUIDE was created. Because over time came the understanding that: many good initiatives appear not thanks to large structures, but thanks to people who are ready to unite around important ideas and take steps toward change.