1,000,000 UAH to help war victims: the Vadym Stolar Foundation announced the winners of the grant program

We announced the winners of the grant program for the implementation of projects to support the military and Ukrainians affected by the war. Non-profit organizations registered on the territory of Ukraine were able to participate in the program. The total grant fund is 1,000,000 hryvnias.

Even before the start of the competition, the Vadym Stolar Foundation conducted a survey of the target audience and determined the priority directions for the projects:

• crisis psychological assistance;
• rehabilitation centers for wounded soldiers;
• social support for affected citizens through projects to provide food, medicine and basic necessities.

And finally, the winners have been determined, so in the future they will be able to realize their projects with the help of these funds.

We talked to the winners, volunteers of the Foundation, the director, as well as its founder, to find out what was the impetus for the implementation of such a program and how it is performed in practice.

Vadym Stolar - about the idea and the first results of the grant program

As Vadym Stolar explained, the grant program is one of the most important projects of the Charitable Foundation to support Ukrainian victims.

"Given the circumstances, the full-scale war that has been going on for more than a year, we decided that it is important to provide financial support to organizations capable of helping wounded soldiers and citizens affected by the war, as well as those in need of social support. Although this is a new area for us and the launch of the program has become somewhat of a "test run", we have received over 100 applications from people who want to participate! This became a clear marker for us that such projects should be implemented, because there is a great need for them today," said Vadym Stolar.

"In addition, we realized that similar projects in cooperation with other organizations contribute to the expansion of a team of like-minded people aimed at achieving a common goal.
We managed to successfully pass the first stage and determine the winners of the grant competition. Next is the implementation of the projects of the program participants," noted Vadym Stolar.

Volunteers of the Vadym Stolar Foundation - about the selection of candidates and winners of the competition

According to Nataliya Prykhodko, a volunteer of the Foundation the selection of winners among all those willing to participate became a difficult task.

"All the applications we received reflect the real problems of Ukrainians. It's nice to see so many proactive people who want to invest their own energy in implementing projects to help others. It was really not easy to choose four winners. We traveled around Ukraine, met and talked with candidates for participation in the program personally, studied their ideas. Many of these were worthy of funding, especially among those aimed at the rehabilitation of warriors. After all, this direction is now very relevant due to the high intensity of hostilities and the large number of wounded. That's why we chose the projects related to the implementation of rehabilitation activities as the winners," emphasized Nataliya Prykhodko.

In addition, the Foundation received about 20 applications for a grant related to obtaining food products for IDPs. This is also an urgent issue, because today more than 4.8 million forced migrants are officially registered in the country. In the next two months, according to Nataliya Prykhodko, the Foundation will offer food kits totaling about 10,000 units to public organizations that sent such projects.

Andriy Feshchenko, director of the Vadym Stolar Foundation, spoke about the winning projects that will receive grants.

"One of the winners was the NGO "UFRA" in Ivano-Frankivsk region, with a project aimed at improving the quality of rehabilitation services. In particular, it is proposed to purchase additional equipment for one of the district hospitals where wounded military personnel undergo rehabilitation. Rehabilitation support for war victims is also the goal of other winners of the Vadym Stolar Foundation competition - NGO "Space for Community Development" from the Chernivtsi region, which operates in partnership with one of the region's multidisciplinary hospitals. And the NGO "Rotary Club Kharkiv «New Level»" applied for a grant for the creation of the first mobile rehabilitation center on wheels to support the locomotor system of soldiers, which will allow to quickly restore the health of military personnel directly in the places of service", Andriy Feshchenko said .

The fourth winner of the competition, according to him, was the "Economic Development Agency of the City of Pavlograd" with a project to equip the rehabilitation center in the city hospital.

The winners of the grant program of the Vadym Stolar Foundation - about their projects and needs

"We are very happy that we are participating in the grant program of the Vadym Stolar Charitable Foundation, because we have a significant list of equipment for the high-quality rehabilitation of wounded defenders, which we will now be able to purchase for the hospital. This is a vibrotherapy simulator used in rehabilitation and physiotherapy, and a system of decompression stretching (traction) of the cervical and lumbar spine, and a rehabilitation chair for the upper and lower limbs and shoulder joint, etc. "- “UFRA” NGO noted.

In turn, the NGO "Space for Community Development" emphasized that the grant support they will receive from the Vadym Stolar Foundation will be aimed at helping to complete the creation of a rehabilitation center at the hospital for people injured as a result of Russian armed aggression. It is already being set up on the basis of an inpatient department of complex medical rehabilitation at the expense of the community. However, additional funding is needed for the full functioning and rehabilitation of the military.

This project coincides with the initiative of the "Economic Development Agency of the City of Pavlograd", which is also aimed at setting up a rehabilitation department for military personnel on the basis of a local hospital, which is planned to be done with a grant from the Vadym Stolar Foundation.

"After being treated in a hospital, servicemen face the problem of restoring their functionality. First of all, it is necessary to help them return to normal life through functional recovery, to identify and develop the reserve and compensatory capabilities of the body by developing new movements and compensatory skills. For this purpose, we plan to set up a rehabilitation center at the hospital, equipped with the appropriate simulators," the agency explained.

But the NGO "Rotary Club Kharkiv «New Level»" approached the issue of rehabilitation of wounded soldiers from a different perspective, offering to create a mobile rehabilitation center on wheels to support the locomotor system of soldiers in service with the help of a grant received from the Vadym Stolar Foundation.

"The creation of such a center will allow to quickly restore the health of the military directly at the places of service, to increase their combat capacity, in particular, on the front-line territory or in battalion medical centers, at the place of service, without distracting from the performance of combat tasks. For many defenders of Ukraine, who are on the front lines, 24/7 at checkpoints and patrolling the territory, this is a vital necessity. Participation in hostilities, long-term wearing of heavy protective ammunition and weapons provokes and exacerbates pain, which causes not only discomfort, but also leads to serious consequences. A wide variety of problems arise: hernias, protrusions, lower back pain and back injuries, joint pain, etc. And an ordinary pain syndrome can turn into a serious chronic disease", - emphasized in the Rotary Club of Kharkiv «New Level».

Representatives of the NGO, which won the grant program of the Vadym Stolar Foundation, also clarified that during the provision of field services to military personnel, rehabilitation methods will be used to help them get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

This is not only manual therapy aimed at eliminating pain and restoring mobility of joints and spine, but also diagnosis of musculoskeletal injuries and treatment aimed at maximum recovery, as well as minimization of secondary or chronic morbidity, detection of shrapnel injuries.

Vadym Stolar - about the Foundation's mission during the war and after Ukraine's victory

“Our Foundation has been operating since 2020, but since the day of the full-scale invasion, we have completely restructured our work. From the first days of the war, we directed our efforts to support the military and civilian population, including IDPs. Assistance to defenders, wounded, forcibly displaced persons, those who were left without a home or lost relatives are the main directions of the Foundation's activities to this day. And we will lead and expand these directions to the victory of Ukraine.

But even in the post-war period, we will have a lot to do, because, let's be honest, the country has a long and difficult road to recovery. We are already investing our efforts in this direction, paying a lot of attention to the psychological and physical rehabilitation of Ukrainians.

The current grant program of the Foundation is also among such projects. And I'm glad that many people have a desire to help others. This is really inspiring and proves that Ukrainians are an invincible nation! I am sure that we are on the right path - the path to the Victory of Ukraine!" - emphasized Vadym Stolar.