How to contact the fund for help?
I need urgent help. How quickly can I get it through Helpus?
What is the difference between providing aid directly to the needy and with the help of a fund?
Once in the office of the Children's Charitable Foundation "Happy Child" the bell rang. A young man who got cancer talked about his only chance for life - a bone marrow transplant costing tens of thousands of dollars.
Since our fund, like hundreds of other Ukrainian funds, helps only children, we could not help this person. Moreover, we were not even able to point him to any fund that could help an adult in such a situation. "So why should I die?" - sounded a desperate voice in the receiver. We didn't know what to say to this person. We receive such calls very often at the fund. Hundreds of adults with cerebral palsy, oncology, and heart disease are asking for help. But the main part of such people die or lead a miserable existence without receiving any help from society.
For several years, we planned to create a site that could focus on helping people over 18 years old. And so, on July 26, 2012, the website "Helpus" finally appeared on the web!
What is the difference between providing assistance directly to the needy and with the help of a fund?
Of course, if you see a person in trouble and can help, you can do so directly.
But there are several reasons to provide assistance with the help of the fund:
1. The Foundation checks requests before placing them on the website. Sometimes this procedure takes a lot of time - because we have to talk with the applicant, with the doctor, check all the certificates and necessary documents. We know the wholesale price of medical preparations and the cost of treatment in foreign clinics. The recipient of the aid signs a statement according to which he undertakes to report every month on all donations received. Employees of the fund receive the report every month and carefully check it. Thus, the possibility of fraud is minimized. Unverified requests in the media, social networks and various websites may be fraudulent, or the funds collected may be directed to needs other than treatment.
2. The fund accumulates donations from many people, which allows solving the problem comprehensively, rather than eliminating the symptoms. For example, you want to help cancer patients. You can help a specific person by transferring UAH 50. You can transfer this amount to the fund for the purchase of medical equipment. For example, we purchase a cryodestruction machine by collecting donations from hundreds of people. The device will allow for high-quality treatment of skin tumors (melanomas), while the cost of the procedure will be much lower than surgical intervention with a scalpel. One person with 50 hryvnias would not be able to implement such a project, but by joining forces with the help of the fund, we can achieve a lot.
3. The Foundation uses experience accumulated over the years to solve problems. For example, a simple person, deciding to help a patient with cystic fibrosis, will not know how to provide help. The foundation, which is constantly faced with this disease, knows clinics, doctors, medical preparations and other foundations that can help in solving this problem.
4. The fund purchases medical drugs and equipment at extremely low prices. Usually, funds that regularly purchase medical drugs or equipment work with suppliers that provide deep discounts. Moreover, there are suppliers - volunteers who give up their profit altogether and sell the goods without any fraud. The money transferred directly to the patient will most likely be spent in the nearest, far from cheapest pharmacy (the difference in prices compared to stock purchases can be 15-30%)
Taking into account all the above considerations, in developed countries, most people do not provide aid directly, but through charitable foundations that have been working for a long time and have an impeccable reputation. Unfortunately, in the post-Soviet space, due to the negative perception of funds that has developed, people mostly help directly, despite the low effectiveness of such assistance.
Our main goal is to change the system of psycho-neurological institutions (PNI) for adults in Ukraine so that people with disabilities could live not in closed barrack-type institutions, but in an environment close to family.
Therefore, first of all, we help create houses of supported living (or group homes) for people with mental and physical disabilities in Ukraine.
Another direction is reasonable assistance to psycho-neurological institutions (PNI) and reform of this system.
Also, in some cases, we help adults, mostly from the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, who are in a difficult situation. Our resources are very limited, so unfortunately we can only accept a few applications per year. We really hope that over time we will be able to effectively help adults from all over Ukraine. You can apply for help here.
There are so many scammers around. How to find out that this project is not another way of pumping out money?
The "Helpus" team are the people who many years ago created the website "Children of Zaporizhzhia" and The "Happy Child" fund - one of the largest funds in the Zaporizhzhia region. Full transparency and reporting have always been and remain the basis of the work of these projects. This rule also works in "Helpus" - any help provided through us is displayed in reports.
Ceremony of signing the grant agreement by the Ambassador of Japan to Ukraine Shigeki Sumi and the president of the charity foundation "Happy Child" Albert Pavlov
During the operation of our children's fund "Happy Child" since 2007, the embassies of the USA, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, we received grants from the NATO Charity Bazaar and the Women's Guild at the United Nations in Vienna. We built 5 homes for orphans and people with mental disabilities, helped treat thousands of children and adults. In 2022, the fund quickly responded to the challenges related to the war in Ukraine, and the amount of aid for that year amounted to more than 1 million 100 thousand. USD
I need urgent help. How quickly can I get it through Helpus?
Unfortunately, contacting the project coordinators and posting information on the portal www.helpus.org.ua does not guarantee the receipt of assistance quickly and in in full. Therefore, the amount and speed of receiving help depends entirely on the number of people who visited your page on "Helpus" and on their willingness to help you. But in any case, placing a request for help on Helpus is a sign for donors that the documents are verified and the need is real. And using other ways of finding funds (through social networks, friends and acquaintances), you can link to your page on "Helpus".
My relative/friend/acquaintance needs help but doesn't want anyone to know about his problem. Can you help in such a situation?
We help adults. And we respect the desire of some people not to advertise their problem. Therefore, placing information about a person on Helpus without their written consent is excluded (except for situations when a person in need is recognized as incapacitated and his guardian turns to us, or a person in need is in an unconscious state and this is documented). Placing requests without specifying a person's name, photos and documents is also not carried out, since, firstly, there is no response to such requests, and secondly, it raises questions from donors and violates the principle of transparency.
If you did not find an answer to your question, the Helpus team will be happy to answer it..
