ABOUT life:)

The Program started as a small TV advertisement on 2006 New Year’s Eve, calling for life:) subscribers to donate 1 UAH for orphaned children. This initiative received an overwhelming response from subscribers, over the course of the first month they donated 155,000 UAH by SMS. Some subscribers sent 50, 100, 300 and even 500 SMS.

life:) added to the money raised its own funds, and totally over 300,000 UAH was distributed among 15 orphanages all around Ukraine (in Lviv, Rivne, Lutsk, Novograd-Volynskiy, Nadvirna, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, Bila Tserkva, Makiivka, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Izmail, Cherkassy and Simferopil).

In 2006, the charity initiative continued and was extended in scale in order to attract the attention of the whole country to the problem of homeless children. Honored artist of Ukraine Iryna Bilyk supported us and in 2006 gave concerts in 26 cities within a charity tour “To Help IS So Easy!”. 5 UAH (in total over 255,000 UAH) from each ticket’s price were donated for charity.

life:) subscribers and employees supported the initiative again. They sent SMS and raised around 230,000 UAH. life:) added its own donation of 250,000 UAH as well, and the whole sum for 730,000 UAH, was distributed between the “Otchyi Dim” (Kyiv) and “Myloserdya” (Khmelnytskyi) charity organizations. Thanks to these donations, construction of the Khmelnytskyi childcare centre was finished together with the construction of the Talent and Skills Development Center for former street children in Kyiv.

life:) covered all the tax expenses, so that every 1 UAH, donated by subscribers, reached its little recipient!

In 2007-2008, life:) charity program “To Help Is So Easy” was extended in scale once again. Many Ukrainian celebrities such as Grigoriy Chapkis, Vladimir Gorianskiy, Masha Efrosinina, Irma Vitovskaya, Sergiy Prytula, Dasha Malahova, Natalya Dolya and others supported us. They all took part in charity play written by a famous playwright Anatoliy Krym “To Help Is So Easy, or Where Children Come From”.

Proceeds raised from ticket sales (over 600,000 UAH) as well as the sum raised at a charity auction in Kyiv (177,000 UAH), were directed to charity needs. life:) again added its own funds in the amount of 500,000 UAH.

In total, throughout 2007-2008, life:) raised over 1,300,000 UAH that was distributed among three charity funds:

• “Mir Vam” (Odesa); “Vidrodzhennya” (Lubny), and “Shans” (Vinnytsia) The “Otchyi Dim” Charity Foundation (Kyiv) received 177,000 UAH.
• 100,000 UAH were allocated to the “Edinstvennaya” Magazine Charity Foundation, that has been working for several years with adolescent children leaving orphanages and entering adult life knowing nothing about it.
• 130,000 UAH were appropriated for equipping the childcare center of the “Myloserdya” charity fund (Khmelnytskyi). The construction of the center was finished in 2006 due to life:) contribution.

In the follow up of the theater tour, in 2008 life:) continued its charity program by establishing a special charity number. Subscribers were encouraged to send 1 UAH charity SMS to the number and received Iryna Bilyk’s song “New Year’s Eve” as a gift for their donation. During the first 3 days we received 25,000 SMS, and in total our subscribers donated over 50,000 UAH for the sake of street children. These funds were transferred to the “Ridna Oselya” childcare center (Tlumach).

In June 2009 life:) conducted charity auction “To Help Is So Easy When You Smile!”. The Project was implemented in partnership with Hello magazine in a form of “Smiling Celebrities” photo exhibition. Thanks to exclusive lots provided by Ukrainian celebrities, there was raised 99,000 UAH. The sum was allocated to three orphanages: Family-type children’s home (Radomyshl), “Oasis” orphanage (Vynnyky), and the “Otchyi Dim” childcare centre (Vatutino).

In early December under “To Help Is So Easy” program life:) presented a new film from a famous Ukrainian director Kira Muratova entitled “Melody For A Street Organ”, telling the story of the two homeless children who found themselves on the street on Christmas eve. All proceeds from the film, shown in 10 largest cities of Ukraine, will be allocated for charity needs.

After a bright opening night of Kira Muratova’s “Melody For A Street Organ”, life:) started implementing new projects within “To Help Is So Easy!” charity program.

All-Ukrainian Marathon for fighting the issue of children homelessness started in December 2009. It was aimed both at fundraising and calling public attention to this burning issue. The Marathon consisted of three projects:

• Regional Contest
  life:) announced a national contest for the best article about street children, people caring for them and life in orphanages. The contest captured public attention – over 300 stories were received from all regions of Ukraine! All winners received gifts, and best articles were published in local newspapers.
• Blogger In An Orphanage
  A special project “Blogger In An Orphanage” was launched at life:) corporate blog. A famous Ukrainian blogger Vitaliy Zhdanov, who used to work as a child psychologist, visited within a month Ukrainian orphanages, supported by life:) and posted stories of former street children. This project drove overwhelming response in Ukrainian blogosphere.
• Charity Number 2009 life:) launched short number 2009, inviting life:) subscribers to donate money to the orphans by means of buying charity e-cards. Over the course of two months we managed to raise 123,000 UAH thanks to the short number. life:) added its own funds and distributed donations between 16 childcare centers all around Ukraine.

life:) added its own donation to the funds raised in 2009-2010. Financial aid was distributed as follows - 140,000 UAH received:

• “Ridna Oselya” childcare center (Tlumach); Family-type children’s home (Radomyshl); “Oasis” orphanage (Vynnyky) and the “Otchyi Dim” childcare centre (Vatutino);
• 45,000 UAH were transferred to the “Otchyi Dim” childcare centre (Vysoke).