In February, a full-scale war ruthlessly invaded Ukrainian lands and since then has destroyed many cities, villages, homes and human destinies.
Photo: fcdynamo.comOne of the settlements that suffered greatly from the war in the first months is the village of Byshev, Fastovsky district, Kyiv region. As a result of the bombing, all administrative buildings in the village were damaged. Among them is an institution of preschool education - a nursery-kindergarten "Kashtan". Before the start of a full-scale war, about 130 children attended this kindergarten.
The premises of the kindergarten "Kashtan", built just a few years ago, have undergone significant damage. As a result of rocket strikes, the roof was completely destroyed, all windows were smashed out along with window frames, and the interior decoration of the garden was also significantly damaged.
The Surkis Brothers Foundation undertook to restore the kindergarten. Work began in the summer and systematically, step by step, the premises were completely restored and reconstructed.
For the grand opening of the renovated kindergarten, a symbolic day was chosen - one of the favorite holidays of children, St. Nicholas Day. The solemn event was attended by the First Vice-President of FC Dynamo Kyiv Vitaliy Sivkov, a representative of the Surkis Brothers Charitable Foundation Serhiy Belik, Byshevsky village head Ivan Roznay, representatives of the Kyiv Regional Council and, of course, parents and their children.
Vitaly Sivkov, together with local children, cut the symbolic ribbon, and the children, together with their parents, entered the renovated kindergarten. While the children were looking around the beautiful rooms, those who participated in the process of restoring the kindergarten talked to their parents. After half a year of fruitful collaboration, they had something to share with those present and to thank for.
With an emotional speech and words of gratitude, the village head Ivan Roznay spoke to the audience:
“Today, a significant event for us is really happening, I would even say the happiest. I always like to say that happiness loves silence, so we silently did this work, but today we can already talk about everything. You all know that after two days of missile and air strikes, we were left practically without all the premises of communal property. The premises of the house of culture, the premises of the village council were destroyed, the premises of the school and the Kashtan children's institution, in which we are now located, were damaged.
On March 7, when we went to see it all, it was scary. We really did not understand how to live on. But we have searched and continue to search for opportunities to restore our community. The Surkis Brothers Foundation was the first to respond to our request for restoration. At first, it was proposed to put new windows in the school and kindergarten, but we analyzed the situation and decided that we needed to focus on one thing. First of all, it was necessary to restore the kindergarten, because these are children, and children are the future of our community and our state. Thank you for giving happiness to children today, for giving a holiday, thanks to the fact that you restored this institution, and you did it with high quality. Now children will be able to receive high-quality preschool education. I congratulate everyone on the holiday! God grant that everything is fine, there is prosperity and harmony in families.
Having completed his address, the Byshev head conveyed to Vitaly Sivkov special thanks from the Byshev community for Igor and Grigory Surkis.
The first vice-president of Dynamo told how exactly the Surkis Brothers Foundation found out about the Byshev kindergarten, which needed to be restored:
“Kyiv region gave a start to our victories. This is the first territory that our Armed Forces, our people liberated from invaders. Then there was the Sumy region, Kharkiv region, Kherson region, and we believe that there will be more and more. We believe in our victory. How did we learn about grief in this kindergarten? We were approached by people, in particular, our employees who are engaged in the Kiev region. Sergei Belik reported to the management of our fund that there is such a request. Of course, she wasn't the only one. Now we are focusing on two objects. One of them is in front of you - a kindergarten in Byshev, another, more complex, in a few weeks we will also put it into operation. For the Byshev community, this institution is the most social. Many children live here. This is a very significant institution, more important than it seems. The main thing is the children. If everything is fine with children, then everything will be fine in families. These thanks, which I will convey to Igor Mikhailovich and Grigory Mikhailovich, are not made of gold, not of platinum, but they are from the kind soul of the inhabitants of this community. The leaders of our Foundation are patriots of their country. They care about our people and are looking for opportunities to help as many people as possible.
The chairman of the Byshevsky village council, Ivan Raznay, found the means to reach out to us, how to convey this misfortune to Igor Surkis and Grigory Surkis. There are those who have been working all this time so that this holiday today, on St. Nicholas Day, takes place. We have prepared gifts so that not a single child goes home today without a sweet present from St. Nicholas. I congratulate everyone on this holy day. God grant that peace reigns on our land, so that we can work calmly and build the future. And God forbid that during the time we spent here smiling, not a single one of our soldiers died on our long-suffering Ukrainian land.”
Also, the floor was taken by the Deputy Chairman of the Kyiv Regional Council Tatyana Semenova:
“Vitaly Semenovich, today you are with us in the role of St. Nicholas. We opened this kindergarten from scratch in 2016. It was true happiness. And when we saw what the rashists did to him in early March... Those who invest in children invest in the future. All these children will remember the war and remember the time when they were brought together again, because they must communicate, they must be in society, they must be socialized. You have created all the conditions for this today. Of course, we will be dependent on other factors, including the availability of electricity, but we will deal with this. And you did the most difficult thing, what we couldn’t do on our own — restored the building.
Finally, I have the honor to present Ivan Raznay, Head of the Byshevsky Village Council, with the award "For Services to the Kiev Region", which was received by 16 people this year. Who does not know, Ivan Yuryevich was wounded, because, together with his colleagues, at the time of arrival he was at his workplace - in the village council.
Director of the contractor Mikhail Vovk briefly reported on the work done:
“The contractor made every effort to rebuild the kindergarten premises in a short time, understanding the relevance and importance of this facility. I would like to thank the Surkis Brothers Foundation, kindergarten workers. All one friendly team did this work. And now the kindergarten is ready to accept kids again.”
Following the solemn part, an entertainment program began, which the kindergarten workers prepared for children and their parents. There were live songs, dance numbers, and animators - elves, huge bears and hares. And even St. Nicholas, with whom all the children were photographed with joy.
And near the festive tree, they installed an icon of St. Nicholas, which was presented to the kindergarten by a priest from the Byshevskaya Church, who consecrated the newly built premises. All the children went home with gifts from the Foundation, and their parents with peace of mind for their children, who will now be able to go to an excellent kindergarten again and receive a quality preschool education.
