As recently as spring 2026, the Prybuzka community in Mykolaiv region had no place where people could come together and feel not just among their own, but safe. School gyms offered no real shelter during air raid alerts, the village club remained a space young people had no interest in, and veterans returning to civilian life had no anchor point at all — no place to meet, talk, get support, and simply be among people who understood.
Everyone had felt this void for a long time. But changing the situation only became possible once the local NGO "Zmist" turned the idea into an application to create the ReStart Hub and received grant support through the "Sparks of Communities: ISAR Ednannia and GlobalGiving Partnership for Resilience" competition. This funding became the last missing ingredient for creating the space the community had been dreaming of — and things began to change quickly.
In early April, the first working meeting between local authorities and community members took place (that's when the key idea was set: the space had to combine safety and life, shelter and sport, support and connection, all in one place). Within just a couple of weeks, renovation work was in full swing at the chosen building: teenagers, veterans, volunteers — everyone who cared and was interested — painted surfaces with their own hands, cleaned up, and prepared a wall for a future mural. In parallel, the necessary equipment was purchased, including gym machines and locker room furniture. The Prybuzka village council took on part of the financial burden, meaning the community and the public worked together, pooling resources.
Alongside the physical work, intellectual work was underway as well. In May, around 20 young residents of Prybuzhzhia took part in a dialogue session where they didn't just dream — they literally designed their own future: among the ideas for what the ReStart Hub should offer were group workouts, a boxing area, a game room, informal themed meetups... And these weren't abstract wishes — people immediately volunteered to take responsibility for organizing specific events.
And so, on June 30, 2026, the ReStart Hub in Prybuzhzhia opened its doors. What had been an empty, neglected building just a few months earlier turned into a space with a veterans' area for meetings and support, and a gym with equipment, free for anyone who wants to use it. Local residents joined the workouts right away — from teenagers who had missed physical activity during the school break, to veterans whose recovery depends directly on staying physically active.
Besides activities "for the body," the hub also offers activities for the soul. Bracelet weaving as a form of art therapy, family photo sessions for veterans' families as a format of caring support that simply didn't exist in the community before... "We're here with friends every day now. You can work out, or just sit and talk safely. Before, we simply didn't have a place where all of this came together," says one local teenager, summing up the change.
This is the main result of the "ReStart Hub: A Space of Strength and Recovery" project — not the walls and equipment themselves, but the community that grew up around them. The success of the ReStart Hub is convincing proof that a community holds powerful internal potential for recovery, one that only needs the right push and a safe place to grow.
The grant competition “Community Sparks: ISAR Ednannia and GlobalGiving Partnership for Resilience” is implemented by ISAR Ednannia with funding from the GlobalGiving platform.
