A year of achievements and new challenges: what the team of the Olena Zelenska Foundation managed to accomplish in 2023

The First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska summarized the results of the Foundation's year of activities.

In 2023, the Foundation brought together partners from at least 25 countries to support Ukrainians and continued to implement important projects in 19 regions of Ukraine.

The total amount of financial support from international partners reached about UAH 500 million. However, the Foundation received most of the assistance directly from its partners in the form of goods: laptops, tablets, generators, heating systems, water purification systems, etc., all provided to help those who needed it most.

Also in 2023, Olena Zelenska's foundation was audited by the international grant platform CAF America and received the status of a transparent and reliable organization with which donors and philanthropists from the United States can cooperate.

The Foundation's main areas of activity are humanitarian aid, education, and healthcare.

Humanitarian aid

Support for residents of the de-occupied Kharkiv region. In 2023, the Foundation continued to provide residents of the liberated territories, primarily the de-occupied communities of Kharkiv region, with generators, heaters, and other items. 154 powerful generators were provided to hospitals, educational institutions, etc.

In addition, the Foundation supported local residents and IDPs by equipping 13 temporary shelters with household appliances, furniture, etc.

Drinking water for the frontline regions. The Olena Zelenska Foundation has delivered 20 water purification systems to the National Police units in Kherson, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as 30 filtration systems to the State Emergency Service in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Each system is capable of purifying at least 1,200 liters of water daily.

Humanitarian support for large foster families. During the year, the Foundation provided humanitarian aid to every third large foster family in Ukraine: materials for repair and insulation of houses, generators, household appliances, gadgets for education, etc. Some of these families were forced to set up their lives and everyday routines virtually from scratch in a new place.

Family vacation. The Foundation organized a joint vacation in the Ukrainian Carpathians for large foster families from the frontline regions and IDP families. More than 1400 children with their foster parents were able to have a quality rest.

"Room for Childhood"

In 2023, the Foundation launched a large-scale project called "Room for Childhood" and is building new homes for large foster families who lost their homes due to the war. The first 14 houses are currently under construction in eight regions of Ukraine.

Education

In the new school year, a third of Ukrainian pupils continued to study exclusively online. These are primarily children in the frontline regions. In 2023, the Foundation provided more than 30 thousand schoolchildren and teachers with tablets and laptops. These are children and teachers from Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Chernihiv and other regions.

To help as many pupils as possible return to full-time education, barrier-free and fully equipped shelters should be set up in schools and kindergartens in those regions where it is possible. That is why the Foundation helped to equip the first shelters in educational institutions in Poltava and Chernihiv regions.

In 2023, the Foundation made a new commitment to rebuild the children's creative and sports hub in Borodyanka, Kyiv region. The children's art center and sports school that were located there were destroyed by Russian missiles in early 2022. The Foundation has already raised $1 million for the first stage of construction. Architectural and design documentation is being prepared.

In addition, in 2023, the Olena Zelenska Foundation initiated a nationwide sociological survey, the Future Index, in cooperation with the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE). This is the first comprehensive study of children's well-being in Ukraine during the war, which includes both an assessment of objective statistical data and a representative survey of children. The study assesses children's well-being in nine areas: health, safety, education, mental health, relationships, social and emotional skills, risky behavior, material security, and institutional support and upbringing. The goal of the Future Index study is to identify the main problem areas of childhood in Ukraine and help government institutions develop effective policies.

Healthcare

Rebuilding the main hospital in Izyum. The Olena Zelenska Foundation continues to implement a large-scale project to rebuild a hospital in the city of Izyum, Kharkiv region. During the occupation, it was looted and partially destroyed. This is actually an entire medical complex that is the mainstay of the region and served 150,000 community residents annually before the war. In 2023, the Foundation allocated USD 1 million for the preparatory stage of construction. The comprehensive reconstruction of the hospital in Izyum is scheduled to begin in 2024. The reconstruction will be carried out in three stages. In particular, the first stage will include the construction of a new surgical and therapeutic building with an area of up to 10 thousand square meters and major repairs of several other buildings of the medical complex.

Assistance to the central hospital in Chuhuiv. The Foundation provided a generator substation for the medical institution in Kharkiv region to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the therapeutic, gynecological, palliative and surgical units. It also helped rebuild the trauma unit by purchasing new medical equipment and furniture worth more than UAH 4 million.

Replenishing the fleet of evacuation ambulances. With the support of the Foundation, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine has already received 23 evacuation ambulances for the frontline regions. Each vehicle is equipped with everything necessary to provide emergency medical care: oxygen cylinders, cardiac monitors, defibrillators, electrocardiographs, artificial lung ventilation devices, etc. In total, the Foundation will provide 50 such vehicles to evacuate civilians from the frontline regions.

"Christmas is on the doorstep"

On Christmas Eve, the Olena Zelenska Foundation congratulated all foster and large foster families in Ukraine. On December 23, 3100 foster families raising children deprived of parental care received gifts simultaneously.

Ukrainian and international partners helped with the project. The cooperation was made possible by the embassies and honorary consuls of Ukraine in Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, and Türkiye.

"We thank all our partners for each of these points and each of its components. Because behind the numbers are human destinies that are changing for the better with each donation. Hopes that come true thanks to caring. These and other projects will continue next year. So that together we can help, support, and defend not only Ukraine, but also a humane world in which we want to live,” summarized Olena Zelenska.