Customertimes Cares: Making Strides to Help Our Communities in Eastern Europe

By Natalia Soloviova - August 14, 2020

Customertimes is committed to enhancing and improving our communities through philanthropic gifting and initiatives. Among other partnerships, we’ve been a long-time sponsor of and participant in the Lightforce Project, a charity that serves the global community by providing affordable, sustainable solar light to people with limited or no access to electricity.

Now, with the addition of our development centers in Eastern Europe, the philanthropic division of CT is taking steps to engage with the communities in these areas. We’ve begun charity initiatives in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Belarus, and we wanted to take the opportunity to share the critical and exciting work we’re doing.

In Ukraine, CT has partnered with City of Goodness, a home for mothers who are experiencing homelessness, suffering from domestic violence, or struggling to provide for their children. This is a residential program, so we sponsored the purchase of bed linens and mattresses in order to provide a safe, comfortable place to live for each family. We will also be helping to update the plumbing system soon.

Also in Ukraine, CT supports Bachyty Sercem (Seeing with Your Heart), an organization committed to giving children with disabilities the opportunity to socialize with their peers.

We are partnering with this organization to start a school for the children they support. Educational opportunities for children with complex disabilities are very limited in Ukraine, and Bachyty Sercem provides outstanding care and curriculum in order to help these children learn and grow through instruction, art, music, and sports.

In Belarus, as in Ukraine, we are working to help children with disabilities like cerebral palsy and autism. Many parents of children with these disabilities have difficulty finding support, and they are forced to consider putting their children in an orphanage so they can get the care they need.

Currently, we are facilitating the creation of an online platform designed to serve as a central hub for resources on these disabilities. The platform includes links to government materials, medical information, and school programs, along with a forum for parents and caretakers to connect with each other.

Our hope is that we can help parents find the support they need to continue to care for their children in their homes, and we’ve committed the time and expertise of our Kyiv specialists to get the platform off the ground.

In Russia, we began working with an orphanage in the Orenburg region, where 40 children between the ages of 3 and 18 are currently under the care of the state. The children regularly dance and sing in festivals, so we purchased costumes and shoes for their performances.

The orphanage also asked us to help upgrade the computers they use in their computer lab (their existing computers are nearly 15 years old) and spruce up their grounds with characters from a popular Russian cartoon. Our colleagues in the Moscow office handled the computers, and we took care of the grounds. We love how it turned out:

We are so excited about the work that has been done so far, and we can’t wait to get started on the next set of plans and partnerships. As an organization, this work is close to our hearts. If you are willing to partner with us in caring for our communities, we would love to talk. Please reach out to me at natalia.solovyova@customertimes.com, and find out how you or your business can join us in this critical work.

This post was originally posted on LinkedIn.