Ptakha Camp: shelter for kids and mothers

When a child flinches from a slamming door – this is not the norm. When a mother does not sleep at night – this is not insomnia. These are the consequences of war. Since 2022, Ptakha Camp in the village of Severynivka in Vinnytsia region has become a place where mothers and children from war-torn regions can breathe a sigh of relief for the first time in a long time. Here they are together. We do not separate families, because we know: when a mother receives support, the child stabilizes faster. When a mother regains her inner support, her child feels safe.

The Ptakha Camp program provides comprehensive psychological and social recovery support for families. Here, participants and their children receive free psychological support, take part in various events and shared family activities, and develop personalized family recovery plans that can be continued in their communities after their stay at the camp ends.

Over the course of four camp seasons, we have hosted 65 charity stays, providing free support to 3,367 mothers and children from the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Sumy regions. Last year, the camp operated for 132 consecutive days, received over 5,000 requests, and had to turn away more than 3,000 families due to a lack of space.

Previously, during air raids, we used the shelter of a local school, but today this is not enough. This year, we plan to accommodate more than 1,500 people, but we cannot invite children to places that do not have their own safe shelter.

The shelter is already under construction. We need to install fire doors and a ventilation system – this is a mandatory safety requirement. UAH 52,209 is not just construction work. This is a chance to open the season, an opportunity to no longer refuse those who have experienced loss and fear, and to give children at least a few days of real childhood.

We strive to change the situation. With your support, the shelter will become a place where families can safely wait out the anxiety, where psychological support will be more effective, and children can play and laugh without fear. Your contribution is a chance for hundreds of mothers and children to experience peace, where their safety no longer depends on chance. Support Ptakha Camp and become part of this story of recovery. Every hryvnia brings closer the day when little hearts can grow in safety again.

Help open the door of Ptakha Camp to those who are waiting so long for a safe summer!