Do you believe in fairy tales? The ones that always have a place for kindness and light, where there is charity for children, where friendship and love is real, and even the most incredible dreams come true? Is your belief in them as firm, reverent and sincere as it has been in your childhood?
Olenka Kylymnyuk believes. She is 12, and she already takes the first steps towards her dreams!
“Children’s dreams are the brightest, and if you help fulfill at least a part of such a dream, you are bound to feel happy from this good deed” Yuliya Karnaukh affirms. In fact, she is one of the people who help make these dreams come true!
"Only a sincere child's soul can create like this"
“My path to volunteering started a long time ago, back in my student years,” Ms. Yuliya says. “For two years I was volunteering in the children’s department of the National Cancer Institute, holding creative classes for children together with the art studio of the Krab charity foundation. I met Zhenya there, a wonderful person who taught me to be a cool, important, necessary, and funny volunteer. Then there was participation in various social projects, and I decided to do charity professionally.”
“In 2021, my friend Tatyana and I founded the Raduysya [Rejoice] charitable foundation with a mission to develop a charity for children. We expressed our main focus in the name of the foundation, that is making children happy, bringing them fun and warm feelings, making their dreams come true, and developing their talents.”
“More than two years ago we met an incredible girl, Olenka, a child with cerebral palsy. She is an extremely clever, bright, and gifted girl! The strength of her spirit, her tireless energy and love for life inspire and cheer everyone around her. Olenka cannot imagine her life without a book, such a rarity nowadays! She communicates with the world through interesting stories, and even has managed to write her own fairy tale!”
“The girl’s mother, Ms. Oksana, devotes a lot of time to the development of her daughter’s creative abilities. The young storyteller has been participating in the Let’s Believe in Ourselves Festival in Kyiv, Ukraine, since she was five. Last year, Olenka got a prize for her debut fairy tale called The Unforgettable Year of the Little Snowman in the category of original poetry and prose! The Unforgettable Year of the Little Snowman is a touching and beautiful story about believing in Miracles and Kindness, and about the fact that even the impossible can become possible if true and loyal friends put their hand to it. Only a sincere and open child’s soul can create something like this!”
“We talked to Olenka’s mother and decided that it would be great to publish this fairy tale, at least in a small, so-called miniature edition. After all, what could be more inspiring for a child than seeing their story turned into a real book?”
Charity for children: a fairy tale that became real
“We were lucky to find Natalya Bondar, a wonderful and gifted artist, who supported us in making a child’s dream come true and bringing the characters of the fairy tale to life on the pages of the future book. But then the war interfered, it broke into our lives suddenly and painfully, standing in the way of the dream… However, no matter how difficult times are, children should believe in miracles, and we should make sure that despair never settles in their hearts.”
“Despite all the hardships, we still managed to finish our work and publish 70 copies of the book with the help of the publisher Volodymyr Hurovych from TravelBooks and patrons of the Raduysya charitable foundation. Olenka’s dream was printed in shining pages, it smiled with colorful pictures, smelled of fresh printing ink and brought tears of joy and excitement to all of us!”
“On October 22, 2022, a book presentation took place at the Ye Bookstore (Ukraine, Kyiv, 3 Lysenka St.), and it was one of the most memorable and unforgettable events for Olenka! The publication had a charitable purpose, as all funds from the sale of the book were invested into the development of the girl’s writing talent and inspire her to new literary achievements!”
“Olenka has already completed The Magic of Fairy Tales literary course from the BiblioFan literary academy in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, and the Literary Nautilus. Christmas Adventures course from the Lucky Academy Int. literary school under the mentorship of the writer Tony Twist,” Ms. Yuliya says. “Later she will study at LitOsvita, the school of modern literary industry and communications, and other creative writing courses. I believe that it will inspire the young storyteller to develop her talent, and I am certain that she will bring us joy with more than one wonderful and invigorating story!”
“Since the entire edition of The Unforgettable Year of the Little Snowman was sold out in a matter of days for the charitable purpose, there were almost no books left for Olenka herself. She was a little upset that she could not present the results of her work to all her relatives and friends. That is why on the eve of Giving Tuesday 2022 (or World Day of Good Deeds), I decided to apply for a microgrant from the Goodacity space of kindness that made it possible to print 20 more copies of the book!”
“We managed to print the book despite constant power outages in the printing house. It happened to be a surprise for Olenka’s birthday on January 3, 2023. The girl and her mother were very happy with the touching present, it turned out to be unexpected and so pleasant! We are truly grateful to everyone who believes in Olenka and supports her talent like we do!”
“I can’t put into words what a joy this initiative has brought to my heart! I already received a microgrant from Goodacity last year and was able to help homeless people at the South Railway Station of Kyiv together with the Parasolka volunteer movement thanks to their space of kindness. I am sincerely grateful for making it possible to do a good thing this year as well! Thank you for increasing the good every day and helping us move towards the implementation of big dreams step by step! The fire of inspiration to do good deeds does not go out, and it really gives strength to live!”
