Dear friends, from the very beginning of the war in Ukraine, our Foundation has identified an increasing need from parents for educational and integration assistance for their children who are under serious stress. This includes a need for guidance on enrolling in Bulgarian kindergartens, complicated by differences in vaccination schedules, often requiring additional time for immunization. Among all arriving children, 40% are under deeper stress or have special needs and cannot immediately attend municipal kindergartens. If parents try to send them there right after arrival, the children significantly slow down in their development, stop speaking, and even regress by 1-2 years, up to enuresis and stuttering.
Role of Children’s Buffer Centers:
The buffer centers, established in 2022-2023, are essential for the successful integration of children and parents into the local community. For children, they are important for adapting to new educational environments, developing social skills, promoting independence, and increasing attention, ensuring a smooth transition from kindergarten to formal education. For parents, they provide essential support, allowing them to focus on key tasks such as documentation procedures, housing searches, language courses, and employment opportunities, confident that their children are receiving quality care and education.
Children with special needs, especially those with developmental delays, are more sensitive to changes in the environment and disruptions in daily routines. Challenges such as language barriers can further exacerbate their vulnerability, particularly in the context of relocation and the stresses associated with war.
Buffer centers offer a bilingual environment, facilitating a dual-language experience for children. This helps them maintain their Ukrainian language skills while gradually acquiring Bulgarian, aiding in a smoother transition.
Each center has a team of three specialists and accommodates mixed-age groups of 24 children, aged 2 to 7 years. This allows for a personalized approach, focusing on age-appropriate needs and ensuring safety and supervision.
Qualified teachers and psychologists conduct age-appropriate training programs, promoting emotional well-being through play, group activities, and individual attention.
Every day, children receive three meals – a small breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack with juice. The cost for 2024 is 8 leva with VAT per child.
For 24 children in 1 children’s center, it costs 3780 leva per month (21 working days) for one center.
For 12 months, the total amount is about 45360 leva for one center.
Today, we sincerely ask for your support in feeding the children in these small buffer centers, which are unique and truly save children’s health and help them during the most difficult period. Let’s protect these children who really need this short time and additional care, adapted food, and native language to adapt to the dramatic changes in their young lives. We had great results in 2023 when more than 140 children received this kind of support, and 76 of them moved to municipal kindergartens in good psychological condition.
We hope that we will be able to help more children in 2024 with your support. Even 100 leva would be truly beneficial to them!
We would like to inform you that your contribution has tax benefits. According to the law, donations in favor of Legal Entities with Non-Commercial Purpose (LENCP) like “UKRAINE SUPPORT AND RENOVATION FOUNDATION” are recognized as accounting expenses for tax purposes, which means you can reduce your tax base in your declaration.
How to support us? With a contract and certificate, you can donate money to our bank account, and we will provide accountability with photos and documents.
For more information about our activities and the “Second Home” project, please visit our website: www.ukraine-renovation.com.