My name is Yeva Solod, and I am Ukrainian.

My life changed forever the day the war began.

Before that day, life was simple. Children laughed on their way to school. Parents made plans for the future. There were birthdays, songs, and warm kitchens filled with light. Then the war came, and everything we knew was destroyed. Overnight, homes became ruins. Streets became battlefields. Families were torn apart in seconds.

For many Ukrainian children, that day never ended. It became their everyday reality.

Thousands of them lost their parents. Some remember the moment it happened. Others were found alone, with no one left to call family. Today they live in orphanages in Ukraine and in Austria. They are safe, but they are lonely. They have beds to sleep in, but no one to kiss them goodnight.

I work with Vienna Mission for Ukraine (VM4U), a volunteer-run organization dedicated to helping Ukrainians in need. We are ordinary people trying to bring help and hope where there is almost none left. Every year, we organize the St. Nicholas Project, a small act of kindness that tries to bring light into the lives of children who have lost everything.

While most children wait for gifts from their families during the Christmas season, these children wait for nothing. No one is expected to come. No one is supposed to remember them. That is why we do this.

Our goal is simple. We make sure that every child in the orphanages we support receives a personal Christmas gift. It might be a toy, a warm sweater, a book, or a small box of sweets. To us, it is a simple gesture. To them, it is proof that they are still seen, that their lives still matter.

A gift cannot rebuild a home or bring back a mother or father. But it can give a child a reason to smile again, even for a moment. It can remind them that there is still kindness in this world, even in times of war.

What Your Donation Supports:

Every euro goes directly to the children.

Personal gifts: toys, books, warm clothes, sweets.

Wrapping and cards: volunteers prepare every package by hand and include a handwritten message in Ukrainian to remind each child that someone cares.

Delivery: safe transportation of gifts to orphanages in Austria and Ukraine.

Essential help: when needed, we also provide hygiene items, food, or winter clothing for the children.

VM4U is completely volunteer-based. There are no salaries, no offices, no administration costs. Every bit of support goes straight to those who need it most.

Why It Matters:

When a child opens a gift they never expected, something in their eyes changes. For a brief moment, the fear and emptiness fade. They are just children again. They smile, they laugh, they hold something that belongs only to them.

That moment is everything.

The St. Nicholas Project is not about charity. It is about dignity. It is about hope. It is about refusing to forget the children who have already lost too much.

Your help can make that moment possible. Your kindness can remind them that the world has not abandoned them.

Thank you for reading. And thank you for choosing to care.