Volunteers and public figures were awarded the Kind Heart Order in Mezhyhirya for the first time

On December 10, 2021, the first Ukrainian Good Deeds Ball was held in Mezhyhirya National Park, a place that has become a symbol of the victory of civil society, during which the organisers presented volunteers and public figures with the Order of the Kind Heart. Mezhyhirya is a vivid  example of civil activism, a symbol of transparency, openness and honesty that wins where people fight for their rights.

During the event, volunteers, representatives of charitable foundations, nongovernmental organisations, educators, entrepreneurs, opinion leaders, and participants of six Good Deeds Forums had the opportunity to find like-minded people, share their experiences, and perhaps, come up with a new joint idea for another public project. The highlight of the Good Deeds Ball was the presentation of a badge of honour, which was a thank you to public figures for their important good deeds.

Ukraine has its first owners of the Order of the Kind Heart, which, according to the founder of the Golda Meir Institute for Civil Society, Albert-Leiser Feldman, will continue to be awarded to prominent public figures who do good deeds and develop civil society. The award was initiated by the organisers of the Good Deeds Forum, the Golda Meir Institute for Civil Society Development and Bank Alliance.

Outstanding recipients of the Order of the Kind Heart

Among the awardees was Natalia Meshcheriakova, a volunteer and coordinator of humanitarian projects at the KOLO Charitable Foundation.

When the war in eastern Ukraine broke out, Natalia, a fragile lawyer, voluntarily left her prestigious job, joined the military and went to help people affected by the Russian-Ukrainian war. After the active military phase ended, she continued her visits to the demarcation line, first trying to provide the locals with the necessary items and food, and then connecting them to grant projects to develop their own businesses.

Roman Derkach, Honoured Doctor of Ukraine, Deputy Chief Physician of the State University «Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics of the Medical Academy of Ukraine», Ambassador of the Forum of Good Deeds title holder, received his award.

Roman has been working as a doctor for 20 years and lately, in addition to his direct duties, he has been acting as a communicator between patients and charitable organisations that enable Ukrainians to perform extremely complex and expensive operations. Thanks to such communication, a large number of patients had the opportunity to undergo surgery at the Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics of the Medical Academy of Ukraine and thus improve their quality of life.

Haide Rizaieva, a member of the Patriot volunteer group, was awarded the prize.

Haide herself was captured, but she found the strength to continue fighting for her life, for the fate of other people — she devoted her life to searching for the missing on the territory of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic, accompanying negotiations regarding their return and even simply establishing their connection with their relatives. It is known that under the leadership of Oleh Kotenko, the Patriot group, in cooperation with the relevant structures of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, has released more than 330 people. However, about the same number of people remain in captivity.

Among the awardees was Tamara Tarnavska, president of the Society for the Protection of Animals, the initiator of the creation of the first Ukrainian animal shelter “SOS” in Pirogovo and the owner of the title Ambassador of the Forum of Good Deeds.

The SOS animal shelter was established on the initiative of Tamara Tarnavska in 1996 on the site of a slaughterhouse that had been operating in Europe at the end of the 20th century. While working in Germany at the Radio Svoboda service, Mrs. Tarnavska was able to rally European animal rights activists, who drew the attention of Kyiv authorities to violations of all norms of humanity in the capital of a European state.

Dmytro Burenin, head of the Public Organization Motohelp, was awarded the prize.

Motohelp was organised on the initiative of IT manager Dmytro Burenin 14 years ago. Since then, the volunteers, who chose to rescue people after road accidents, have established relationships with the authorities to enable them to work effectively with ambulance services and blood transfusion stations.

Today, the Motohelp NGO is a full-fledged rescue squad, as well as a team that is engaged in the urgent delivery of blood from its storage centres to hospitals. The activists have signed a cooperation agreement with the ambulance service, which is possible only if they have state-issued certificates. The volunteers make almost 200 visits a month to provide first aid. And very often their actions give people a chance to survive.

Olga Drobysheva, head of the Traffic Challenge NGO, received her award.

«We are engaged in implementing in Ukraine the best world experiences in the prevention of road traffic injuries, and in particular we focus on youth and children, because these people will make up our future. This is our real economic resource and we need to preserve it so that there are people to work and live in our country», — Olga Drobysheva said during the Good Deeds Forum.

When the Traffic Challenge NGO began its work in 2015, there was nothing in Ukraine to rely on to calculate how much damage a particular transport accident brings to the state, to prove why it is more profitable for the state to invest in traffic safety.

The Order of the Kind Heart was also awarded to Halyna Yablonska, a member of the National Union of Theatre Workers of Ukraine, actress of the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatre, president of the International League of Mothers and Sisters – Youth of Ukraine, artistic director of the Heroic Theatre “Memory”, author and founder of the international project-competition “Taras Shevchenko Unites Peoples;

Ivan Stepurin, head of the Samit-Knyga publishing house and secretary of the Public Council for Culture, Youth and Sports, holder of the title of Good Deeds Forum Ambassador; Ksenia Lazebna (Kyiv), volunteer; Oleksandr Sosis, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Golda Meir Institute for Civil Society Development, businessman, shareholder of JSC Bank Alliance, co-founder of the Good Deeds Forum; Svitlana Horbunova-Ruban, Deputy Mayor of Kharkiv for Healthcare and Social Protection, holder of the title of Ambassador of the Good Deeds Forum; Yaroslav Boyko, founder and head of the Tato Hub project, representative of the Fishermen’s Club of Ukraine NGO (Kramatorsk).

During the Ball of Good Deeds, the audience had the opportunity to learn about projects that were able to be fully implemented and go beyond their boundaries, becoming an example for other public figures in different parts of Ukraine and even abroad. This is an initiative to provide first aid to road accident victims implemented by the NGO Moto Help. The Stare Misto coffee shop and confectionery in Lutsk, which employs people with special needs. This is also a Vazhlyva social project for women; a project to teach children road safety from the Traffic Challenge NGO and a project from the NPU «Mezhyhiria» NGO.

The Ball of Good Deeds was organised by the Golda Meir Institute for Civil Society Development with the support of JSC Bank Alliance.

Institute for Civil Society Development to honour dedicated activists