​​How EU Support Helped a Volunteer Establish a Community Centre for Older Adults

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, confectioner Olena Chaika realised that her new priority was to help people who had been forced to flee their homes because of the war. This is how a shelter for displaced people was first established, followed by a children’s space, and later, a centre for older adults.

Synelnykove is home to a large railway hub. Before the war, many routes from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions passed through the city. After the invasion, it became a logistical hub for internally displaced people from neighboring regions. Over 29,000 of them still live there today. All of those people need to adapt to a new life and integrate into the local community.

One local resident, Olena Chaika, noticed this need. For over ten years, she baked custom cakes, but when the full-scale war began, she started volunteering. “I just wanted to help,” Olena explains. At first, she wove camouflage nets and baked pies — and later decided to open a shelter for displaced people.

Photo from Olena Chaika’s Facebook page

The idea was supported by a local entrepreneur, Yurii Priadko. Together, they set up the only shelter for displaced people in Synelnykove in an office building and established the charity foundation “Dobrobud 2022.” Noticing that the children in the shelter did not communicate either with each other or with local kids, Olena created a children’s space there. This became the first step towards building cohesion.

“We saw incredible results: the children started making friends with their peers, and some even wanted to enrol in local schools. We were thrilled by such positive changes and wanted to do more,” the activist shares. Her next step was to support older people: “I noticed that their conversations revolved only around receiving humanitarian aid. They explained that in this new place they felt like outsiders, and that finding a job or making friends at their age was almost impossible.”

Then Olena decided to create a place where they could come together, talk, and do something with their own hands.

Things moved quickly. One of the women living in the shelter knew how to sew and asked Olena to help her get a sewing machine through the volunteers. When the machine arrived, other women immediately became enthusiastic about the new activity. “They became very active — they started sewing clothes and repairing their own garments. I set up a small sewing corner in the children’s room. But the demand was incredible, so we opened a separate space for older adults,” Olena recalls.

This is how the “Threads of Hope” centre emerged — a space for leisure and social support for older people. Olena became its director.

Photo from Olena Chaika’s Facebook page

The local authorities provided the premises. And thanks to a grant from the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the flagship partnership “EU4Recovery – Empowering Communities in Ukraine”, it was furnished and equipped with sewing and embroidery machines, as well as other necessary tools.

“Our organisation is part of the Working Group on Public Security and Social Cohesion, which was established in the community with UNDP’s support. There, we learned about the support programme and decided to apply for a grant. I was nervous, but I believed it would work out. I always believe in my projects. It is precisely thanks to European support that we were able to open our space, which continues to operate,” Olena notes.

Around 20 people now attend the leisure centre. Here, they learn sewing skills, are encouraged to experiment creatively, and participate in sessions led by a psychologist.

Photo from the UNDP Ukraine Facebook page. Author — Ivan Lavrenko.

One of the centre’s regular visitors is Ms Valentyna. In March 2022, because of the war, she left her home city of Lysychansk, where she had a house and a garden. She admits she never had time for handicrafts before. “Now I sew, and it brings me joy and takes my mind off bad thoughts. I have so many ideas! There is always something I can make as a gift for my relatives or friends,” she adds.​

But the most important thing the centre offers is a sense of unity and togetherness. Ms Valentyna recalls: “When it was my birthday, one of the women from our classes, knowing how much I love the saxophone, invited her granddaughter to perform for me. I had never had a birthday like that in my life. It was my day, dedicated to me. It moved me to tears.”

Photo from the Dobrobud 2022 Charity Foundation’s Facebook page

Stories like this inspire Olena to keep going and to look for new grant opportunities from international partners. She shares, “I have my own secret: first, I write a draft of the application, and then I move to another desk and imagine myself as the grant-maker who has to make the decision. I ‘become’ the person who manages the funds and has to assess the application. And I keep writing until the application is in a shape that allows the donor to see the full picture and understand how people will benefit.”

Her “Threads of Hope” initiative is one of many that the European Union has supported across Ukraine. In 2025, for instance, the EU allocated 14 million euros to support Ukrainian civil society organisations, 5 million euros of which was directed towards advancing women’s leadership and conflict resolution. Thanks to this funding, dozens of projects have been implemented, helping local women activists improve their communities and strengthen women’s roles in Ukraine’s recovery.

Source: Informator Dnipro