“City without barriers”: a charity venture launched in Lutsk

A program is being implemented in Lutsk for installing donation boxes collecting for the establishment of barrier free access for people with limited mobility to residential and public premises.

The program is being run jointly by the regional child development centre and the Volyn Reform Press Club.  As the coordinator of the Press Club, Bohdan Stelmakh, stressed, this is the first such project in Lutsk. 

According to the Head of the Child Development Centre, Ludmila Voznyuk, the introduction of such donation boxes should remove the stereotypical reaction against them by representatives of business structures who believe that such boxes could hurt their business.  The supermarket network “Nash krai”  is the first and thus far only commercial structure to agree to take part in the charity action. Its management not only agreed to install such donation boxes, but also prepared information posters at its own expense.

According to the project plan, the donations received will primarily be directly towards building a ramp in the specialized kindergarten No. 57 which for 15 years now has been attended by children with cerebral palsy. According to Hanna Prystanets, therapist and teacher at the kindergarten, the parents of her children had on many occasions approached the city administration and had already lost any hope of being able to change things.

The next target which needs to be made accessible for children with disabilities is the Volyn Regional Puppet Theatre.

The local representative office of the Ukrainian Social Investment Fund has already expressed its support for the program, as has the Public Council for Social Partnership