Lodz Airport: Letter to Aviation Society

Dear Aviation Friends,

The tragic events that are currently taking place right next to our borders, requires the sacrifice that our society has not been ready for. Lodz Airport Central Poland for many years cooperates supports and assists the Happy Kids Foundation which has over 20 years of experience in comprehensive help of disadvantaged and lonely children and now is facing the challenge of the preservation of children’s lives and health in the face of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The Happy Kids Foundation, with cooperation and full support of Hanna Zdanowska – Mayor of the Lodz City, the main shareholder of Lodz Airport Central Poland launched a campaign on the second day of the war to rescue some of the most vulnerable victims: children from orphanages and foster care. There are over 100,000 children in institutional, public orphanages in Ukraine.

Happy Kids Foundation is evacuating children and families from the war-affected parts of Ukraine now. They have already evacuated and taken care of over 2,500 people in Poland placing them in well prepared/rented places where they may stay in dignity and safety for at least several months. More than half of them are children of Ukrainian orphanages.

All those actions are fully financed from their resources received from people of goodwill and companies whose activity is based on the CSR business model. While the situation is getting more and more difficult we would like to friendly ask you our Aviation Friends to support the Happy Kids Foundation in any way you can afford to. The needs now are huge and time matters.

It might be either financial support or support by your contacts to similar organisations in your countries. Also, any help to find places to stay that will enable the evacuated children to live there and to have a decent existence is highly appreciated. Happy Kids need free places in functioning children’s homes, hotels, sanatoriums, dormitories, etc. These places must enable them to provide at least several months of accommodation and full board for their charges and their careers. In each case, it is also indispensable to be supervised by local or provincial government agencies profiled for this purpose – Municipal Social Assistance Centres, Family Assistance Centres, Foster Care Administration Centres, etc.

Also, any other help that from your perspective might be possible is more than welcome.