Today we celebrate 18 years of working for children and families across Ukraine. And while the name still says “child,” we’ve actually lived through more than one adult life: we’ve built several homes, planted hundreds of trees, supported thousands of children — and many of those children are now parents themselves.

These years have been filled with kindness, service, and a fair share of fighting bureaucratic “indifference within the law.” We’ve made friends on every continent (well… still waiting on Antarctica). We’ve helped foster families thrive, brought life-changing equipment to hospitals, opened the world to children through hikes, museums, and field trips.

But not everything has been happy. We’ve lost children — because some illnesses can’t be cured, no matter the resources. We’ve lost homes we built in southern Zaporizhzhia. And we’ve lost friends — to war, occupation, or displacement.

Still, we keep going. We equip shelters in schools and kindergartens, organize camps and adventures for kids, provide care and support to families across Ukraine. And none of this would be possible without the generosity of donors from Europe, Asia, Australia, the Americas, and — one day — Antarctica too.

Thank you to everyone who’s been with us from the beginning — or just joined today. Thank you if you’ve helped once, or a hundred times. You are a part of this journey.

P.S. Technically, we’re a bit older — our website deti.zp.ua started in 2004. But our official registration happened 18 years ago, and that’s the birthday we’re counting.

Want to celebrate with us? A like, a share, or a small donation means the world.

Here’s to the next 18!