St. Nicholas’ Day charity drive, A Toy to Fit in the Hand, has become annual and nationwide

Remember the incident that happened in one Australian school? A teacher told the little ones that Santa Claus did not exist, and that their parents put presents under the Christmas tree instead. Infuriated, the parents even demanded that this self-styled champion of the truth be fired, and it is hard to disagree with them. At a certain age everyone needs fables. To find out that you have been fooled by no other than the people whose words you take for gospel is perhaps one of the first major shocks.

It is hard to imagine the lives of the children that have been deprived of parental care by some whim of fate — wards in numerous children’s homes — without Grandfather Frost or Santa Claus. This is why it is so important to bring this fable to them.

Sometimes everything happens differently. The next person on top sends a truckload of candy and toys to the children’s home, unloads them, and is gone: far from all have the courage to see the life of such institutions, whose wards are often born impaired. Or perhaps they do not wish to. Celebrated designer Natalia Balabanova, who has recently won an Oscar of hairdressing art in Paris, sees such scenes quite often. She and her colleagues at the Liniya Styliu [Style Line] Salon, who themselves pack presents for the little ones, do not see the point of such indiscriminate giving of presents, much like other things. For example, each client of her elite salon heard about the drive, A Hand Toy, which Natalia decided to organize annually, but far from all wished to donate a toy. Instead a simple Kyiv woman made her little contribution: despite a recent major surgery she still climbed the steep Andriyivsky uzviz and brought her toy to the salon.

We have also faced similar paradoxes, since The Day not only covered the birth of the Hand Toy drive, but also took active part in it. Amazingly, certain media outlets refused to cover the drive claiming that Balabanova is using it to advertise her own salon. It is not ruled out that some consider charity drives timed to coincide with holidays a good occasion to advertise themselves and their businesses. Yet our disbelief that a wish to do good may be a sincere impulse makes one feel somewhat uneasy. It sounds almost like a diagnosis.

But enough of the bad things. This year wards of five children’s homes — thanks to the efforts of Natalia and her team, along with show producer Iryna Diudenko, tennis star Natalia Medvedieva, and numerous Kyivans — will receive presents from St. Nicholas and some more on the Mother’s Day in the spring. The organizers entered heart and soul into the spirit of the holiday drive: even the packing for presents is not banal. Last year, designer Ihor Senich designed special bags for toys and candy (confectioneries also joined the drive). This year, designer Tetiana Zahurska will do the same. The Vorzelsk Children’s Home, which Natalia has patronized for a year, has another amusing little order — the teachers asked for little bags for personal handkerchiefs for the little ones.

To all appearances, the drive is gaining nationwide support. A Kharkiv-based stylist Serhiy Nikitin has offered three salons that are members of the Intercuafur section in Odesa, Ternopil, Luhansk, and Kharkiv to collect toys to be transferred to children’s homes. The Day will report how the drive went this year. We offer all the well-wishers to give the little ones their piece of fable. Call the numbers below and bring your own palm-sized toys to one of the salons from December 19 to January 31.

Odesa, Mara-Max Salon, (048)-777-888-2, Maryna Kanikovska

Ternopil, Krasunia [Beauty] Salon, (0352) 53-45-99, 43-57-64, Ihor Romanets

Luhansk, Center Natalie Salon, (0642) 58-84-05, 58-84-04, Pavlo Butylsky, Natalia Parapanova

Kharkiv, Mon Plezir Salon, (0577) 12-63-26, Serhiy Nikitin

Charitable accounts of the Vorzelsk Children’s Home: 35421408 200200 (UHK in Kyiv MFO 820019) foreign currency account 26003400020101 (KIS AKB USB in the village of Bucha, MFO 321013), code 22206086, tel. — (297) 4-61-37