Ahead of Civil Society Week, we are sharing the stories of our grantees — people and organizations who work every day to drive change and develop civil society in Ukraine. The story of the "Mriyu Zhyty" Charitable Foundation began with a simple desire — to help children with disabilities and their families not with words, but with concrete action.
"It's Not Enough to Help Just Once"
For me, it all started with a desire to help children with disabilities and their families not with words, but with concrete action. At the very beginning, this mainly meant helping children with cerebral palsy — paying for rehabilitation, finding treatment opportunities, and supporting families. But the more we worked with families, the more we saw: behind a single request there is almost always much more need.
Gradually, I came to understand that it's not enough to help just once. What's needed is to create opportunities that stay with the family for the long term. That's exactly where my civic engagement began.
From Personal Help to an Organization
In 2014, it became clear that individual personal help was no longer enough. To support more children, attract partners, and work transparently and systematically, an organization was needed. That's how the "Mriyu Zhyty" Charitable Foundation came into being.
At that time, our main work was helping children with cerebral palsy and paying for their rehabilitation. Today, 12 years later, the foundation's work has expanded far beyond that — from targeted assistance and rehabilitation to social services, inclusive programs, family support, and educational/awareness projects.
If I could go back to the day it all began, I would tell myself: "Don't be afraid to start small, but never think it will stay small forever."
In 2014, we had no way of knowing that 12 years later we would not only be paying for children's rehabilitation, but also developing social services, implementing large grant-funded projects, and working alongside government and international partners. And I would also say this: there will be many rejections. Mistakes too. What matters most is to keep moving forward after each one.
Families at the Center of the Work
There were people around us who were also ready not just to sympathize, but to act. But the most important factor in the foundation's development has always been the families themselves. It was from them that we heard what a child truly needs, what difficulties parents face every day, and what they lack.
Over time, a much wider circle formed around the foundation — volunteers, specialists, philanthropists, businesses, and civic and international organizations. And it was precisely these partnerships that made it possible to move from individual good deeds to larger projects.
12 Years of Work: From Rehabilitation to Social Services
The "Mriyu Zhyty" Charitable Foundation has been supporting children with disabilities and their families for 12 years now. Over this time, the foundation's work has changed considerably. We started out paying for children's rehabilitation. After the start of the full-scale war, we significantly strengthened our humanitarian work.
We implemented the "School Dream" ("Shkilna Mriya") and Mama Special projects, inclusive events, and programs for socialization and family support. Today, among our key areas of work are the day-care social service for children with disabilities of subgroup A, the "Dreams Without Limits" ("Mrii bez obmezhen") rehabilitation funding assistance program, as well as charitable and inclusive projects for children and families.
What Change We Want to See
We want to change the very approach to supporting families raising children with disabilities — so that help no longer depends solely on whether a family manages to find a benefactor or raise money for a specific need. So that sustainable social services, clear pathways to assistance, and professional support exist close to where the family lives.
For us, the future is one where a child with a disability has opportunities for development, education, and socialization, and their family is not left alone with its difficulties.
Challenges That Don't Stop Us
The hardest part is that there are always more needs than resources.
Over the years, we've faced very different challenges: the war, the humanitarian crisis, power outages, unstable funding, the need to retain our team, and ensuring continuity of support for children.
In 2026, some of our projects were specifically aimed at making sure social services for children didn't stop during the energy crisis. What keeps us from stopping are the results. When you see that something that was once just an idea is now genuinely working and needed by families, you find your answer to the question of "why keep going."
A "Result" Is When a Specific Child's Life Gets Better
What I'm proudest of isn't any single project, but the whole path the foundation has traveled. We started by helping individual children and paying for their rehabilitation. Then came humanitarian programs, hundreds of children's stories, "School Dream," Mama Special, dozens of partnerships, and grant-funded projects.
And today we already provide a day-care social service for children with disabilities of subgroup A and are building a more systemic model of family support.
To me, this is an important result: the foundation never stood still, but kept changing in line with what children and families actually need.
Personally, what inspires me most is the result. I can talk all I want about projects, grants, or performance indicators, but my biggest motivation is seeing that a specific child's life has gotten better.
When a child starts doing something they couldn't do before. When they come in happy. When parents see the changes and realize they're not alone. It's in these moments that all the difficulties of this work make sense.
Where Change Can Begin
It's true that not everything depends on one person. But very often, whether something starts at all does depend on one person. You don't need to immediately create a large foundation or change the entire system. You can start with one problem. One family. One idea. One decision. Our foundation didn't start with big grants, social services, or dozens of partners either. At first, there was simply a decision to act.
Civil Society Begins with Not Staying Indifferent
With not staying indifferent — turning that into action.
You can wait a long time for someone else to solve a problem. Or, at a certain moment, you can ask yourself: "What can I do?" Then other people appear alongside you. A team forms. Partnerships. An organization. And what began as a single initiative can gradually come to affect the life of an entire community. That, to me, is exactly what civil society is.
Partnership with ISAR Ednannia
The partnership between the "Mriyu Zhyty" Charitable Foundation and ISAR Ednannia has already lasted several years. Importantly, this support has taken different forms at different stages of the foundation's development.
In 2021, the foundation received support for organizational development, and in 2022 — for conducting an external evaluation of the organization.
In other words, even before the larger programs, ISAR Ednannia was already helping the foundation grow stronger as an organization.
The next major stage was the project for the day-care social service for children with disabilities of subgroup A.
For us, this cooperation clearly illustrates our own development: from strengthening the organization itself — to the capacity to independently provide social services and implement much larger-scale projects.
*under the SPIRIT project, implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine, the Fund for Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities, and UNICEF Ukraine, with administration by ISAR Ednannia.
