PHILADELPHIA – The United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (UUARC) has been conducting charitable activities in Ukraine since 2002 through the “Christmas Joy” program, which takes place from the feast of St. Nicholas to Theophany. This year’s program allocated $14,000 for the purchase of Christmas gifts that included candies and sweets, shoes, outwear and other everyday necessities.
The purpose of such a program is to bring the joy of Christmas, and the generosity of St. Nicholas, to orphans, children deprived of parental care, those with physical and mental disabilities, those living in Ukraine where hostilities are taking place, and children of wounded and killed Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the east of the country. These are the children in Ukraine who have been deprived of a normal childhood and are very happy to receive Christmas gifts.
Additionally, the program also provides assistance to the less fortunate elderly people in Ukraine, who this year received Christmas assistance in the form of sweets, vegetables, fruit, articles of clothing, etc.
In order to achieve the goal of the Christmas program, St. Nicholas visited needy children and elderly people in the following boarding schools and geriatric facilities in Ukraine: Pidhirtsi Special School I-III; Zhovkva Training and Rehabilitation Center I-II “Zlahoda”; International Charitable Foundation for the Disabled “Hope Lives,” a day hospital for children with disabilities, as well as the geriatric center at the same institution; Pidkaminska boarding school; Dobromil boarding school; Rava Ruska Geriatric Center; kindergarten “Myr”; and kindergarten “Mriya” in Toretsk.
Gifts were also sent to military units and distributed to children of deceased and wounded servicemen of the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU), to students in children’s specialized institutions and establishments cared for by NGU units, and to the elderly. The Military Civil Administration helped to distribute the gifts in eastern Ukraine. In total, 1,700 gifts were distributed throughout Ukraine during the 2020-2021 “Christmas Joy” program.
Many thank you letters were received, and they all expressed their gratitude to people who donated to the program and made their Christmas this year wonderful. It is with the help of donors to the program that the children experienced the joys of childhood, which they unfortunately lack in everyday life.
The UUARC is a community-based, 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization formed in 1944 to help Ukrainian war victims in Ukraine and those who emigrated during World War II. The organization provides humanitarian aid to Ukrainians in Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Argentina and the U.S. Readers may learn more about the UUARC by visiting their website at www.uuarc.org.
At International Charitable Foundation for the Disabled “Hope Lives.”