On the eve of International Book Giving Day, which will be celebrated on February 14, children from the Bondarev and Lysyutin family-type orphanages relocated from Druzhkivka received Ukrainian-language editions and books by foreign authors translated into Ukrainian.
With the assistance of benefactors, the Donetsk Regional State Administration presented the children with board games and educational games, guides for family reading, as well as sweets, fruit, essential items (sleeping bags, pillows, thermos flasks, and backpacks), and hygiene products.
The young residents of the Bondarev and Lysyutin family-type orphanages currently live in the Kyiv region in the village of Velyka Starytsia, Boryspil community, in apartments purchased with subsidies from the state budget.
Foster parents Vasyl and Nadiya Bondarev are raising nine children aged 7 to 14. Nine children aged 9 to 16 are growing up in the nearby family-type children's home of Serhiy and Sofiya Lysyutin. Both family homes have the spirit of real families, where mutual respect, family traditions, and a good sense of humor reign.
The regional campaign "Give a Child Reading," launched as part of the Strategy for the Development and Popularization of Books, will continue throughout 2026. Its goal is to provide children and young people with access to high-quality Ukrainian-language literature and to foster a lasting motivation to read as an important component of cultural and intellectual development.
In 2025, the region hosted its first "Give a Book to a Defender" campaign to support military personnel undergoing rehabilitation in specialized facilities. Thanks to the participation of 45 local communities and five district state administrations in the initiative, more than 2,000 copies of Ukrainian-language books were donated to the defenders of Ukraine.
The positive experience of the 2025 campaign laid the foundation for continuing initiatives to promote reading in 2026.
We are moving forward in caring for our tomorrow—the future generation of Ukraine!