Hurry to do good deeds
Fund-raising for children’s hospital became nation-wide action
This year St. Nicholas will not forget about children denied parental care: cuddly toys, copybooks, sweets, and Christmas cards have been prepared by senior graders and college students in Lviv (see photo). Nor has St. Nicholas forgot to visit Ukrainian children who have to spend the holiday in hospital beds. Sweets and toys are not the only way to gladden Ukrainian children’s hearts. All Ukrainians are collecting money to help ailing children on Ukraine 3000 International Benevolent Foundation’s initiative.
The foundation of the All-Ukraine Mother and Child’s Health Center “Children’s Hospital of the Future” was laid in Kyiv this spring, on the premises of the Feofania Hospital. In the fall Ukraine 3000, under Kateryna Yushchenko’s patronage, organized an all-Ukraine promotional tour of the regional centers of Ukraine. For 75 days the construction project of the country’s largest hospital was presented in the regions and money collected for its construction.
During that period over 240 million hryvnias were contributed to the benevolent foundation (the project’s budget requires 600 million). The bulk of the sum was transferred to the hospital’s bank account within four hours of a fund-raising marathon broadcast live by 11 Ukrainian channels. Some two million hryvnias was received through SMS messages (every citizen can do so by dialing 353). Several Ukrainian charitable organizations have donated the largest amount to date, including over 12 million dollars from the Development of Ukraine charitable foundation, some 10 million from the Viktor Pinchuk Foundations and Industrial Union of the Donbas.
The Hospital of the Future will have several wards for children afflicted with pathologies that are still incurable in Ukraine. It will have 250 beds, equipment, and personnel for marrow transplants from unrelated donors, several types of plastic surgeries, reconstructive orthopedics, operations on great and peripheral vessels, perinatal diagnosing, and so on. Ukraine 3000 feels confident that ailing children will receive quality and modern medical help and that their parents will not have to pay anything for the treatment.
This will be guaranteed by the hospital’s charitable fund and an insurance medicine program that will have been introduced all over the country by the time.
What has made Ukrainians join efforts in supporting this charitable project? The First Lady, Chairperson of Ukraine 3000’s Supervisory Board Kateryna Yushchenko said during the televised marathon that this project has united the entire country: “I know that there are many top-notch physicians in our country who have to work in difficult conditions and with obsolete equipment. Therefore, we must provide adequate conditions for their work.” Mrs. Yushchenko also stressed that the construction of the children’s hospital must become a nationwide project: “No matter how much people will donate (some will be able to afford only five hryvnias through SMS, others will part with thousands and millions), the important thing is that we will do this together.”
The main issue for those taking part in the project is to use the money thus raised for the stated purpose. Ukraine 3000 is sure that this money will be used the right way. “All members of the hospital’s board of trustees will be able to monitor the distribution of funds,” says Natalia Butenko, deputy head of the foundation’s press service. “All who contribute considerable sums to the charitable fund are invited to become members of the board of trustees. This fund will also partially provide for the payroll of physicians who will treat children with grave diseases. By the way, even now Ukrainian physicians from various regions are undergoing on-the-job training abroad, so they will be able to start working as soon as the hospitable opens.”
Financing of the hospital will be done in two ways: from the central budget and through charitable contributions to the special hospital’s fund. In addition, the organizers envisage accommodation and treatment of children from abroad; their treatment will cost less than anywhere in Eastern Europe and this money will be added to the hospital’s fund. The organizers of the Hospital of the Future project expect to complete its construction in 2009. Meanwhile Ukrainians have to remain active to help carry out this project, for it still needs more than 300 million hryvnias.
