“Books for Children” is the name of a benevolent project launched last year. It has since then been supported by noted publishing companies, writers, cultural figures, athletes, central and regional media across Ukraine. It is aimed at promoting Ukrainian books and encourage the younger generation to read them. This long-tern project is meant to help socially least protected children —t children’s homes, boarding schools, and social rehabilitation schools — receive and read new publications. It is meant to set up libraries, replenish library stocks at children’s institutions in various regions of Ukraine. According to the organizers, the main objective is to help the younger Ukrainian generation evolve intellectually and culturally. In the past year this project has embraced 82,000 children’s institutions in 12 Ukrainian regions. More than 16,000 books and 5,000 journals have been donated to libraries. Another some 10,000 books collected by students have been transferred to library stocks in collaboration with Sviatoslav Vakarchuk’s benevolent foundation Liudy maibutnioho (People of the Future). Den’/The Day is also involved in the project. It has transferred to library stocks copies of its Library Series, including Ukraine Incognita, Dvi Rusi, and Klara Gudzyk’s Apocrypha. Tetiana Shakhnik, director, Hrani-T Publishers (this company has donated most of the books to the project), stressed during a press conference: “This project has met with public response throughout Ukraine. We have been receiving numerous requests for help and books from boarding schools, children’s homes, juvenile penal colonies, grade schools, and children’s libraries.” Ukraine 3000 International Benevolent Foundation’s social expert Yulia Yandrova noted, “In this year we have done a great deal to help our children read quality Ukrainian books.” This foundation has donated over 80,000 hryvnias. Maryna Krysa, president of the benevolent foundation Tovarystvo “Pryiateli ditei” (Society of Children’s Friends), says the project embraces children held in juvenile wards and penal colonies. The opening of Ukraine’s second Ukrainian Book Center in Kherson (south of Ukraine) is another achievement of the project. The organizers expect the project to extend to 12 more regions next year.
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