This initiative is no longer active. Please read below for more information about past activities supporting Brovary, Ukraine.
In partnership with the City of Rockford, the Rockford Convention and Visitors Bureau, and YMCA of Rock River Valley, the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois (CFNIL) is collecting donations to help cover the costs for ten children and two chaperones to travel from Ukraine to Rockford this August 2024. Each of the youths has lost their father to death or disappearance while defending the Ukrainian territory from Russian invaders. Brovary, a suburb on the northeast side of Kyiv, has been a sister city to Rockford since 1995 (learn more below), and as such, representatives of the City of Rockford are currently in direct communication with representatives of the City of Brovary. The two communities are working together to provide this respite visit with the goal of helping restore the visitors' psycho-emotional health.
The partners listed above are working to raise $25,000 to offset travel and accommodation costs, with the hope of meeting that goal by August 30, 2024. CFNIL is administering the fundraising effort and providing in-kind technical support, in addition to a $2,500 lead gift to launch the campaign.
This campaign in August 2024 is the second time the Rockford community has welcomed visitors from Brovary since the conflict with Russia began. The first visit occurred in the summer of 2022; learn more about that visit.
Prior to that visit, the Rockford community had enthusiastically supported a campaign to raise humanitarian aid for its sister city, Brovary, in the wake of war breaking out in Spring 2022.
Details About the Initial Fundraising Effort for Brovary, Ukraine, launched in Spring 2022
In partnership with the City of Rockford, the Rockford Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Kids Around the World, the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois (CFNIL) is collecting donations to be distributed for the immediate and ongoing needs of the people of Brovary, Ukraine, as the humanitarian crisis continues. Brovary, a suburb on the northeast side of Kyiv, has been a sister city to Rockford since 1995 (learn more below) and as such representatives of the City of Rockford are currently in direct communication with representatives of the City of Brovary. The two communities are working together to determine the areas of highest need and the proper entities and channels by which aid raised here in northern Illinois may be distributed.
This is a rapidly changing situation and the need is dire. It is CFNIL's privilege to provide administrative support and technical capacity to manage donations from our local communities. All contributions will be used to purchase and deliver goods and supplies either through trusted, verified international aid organizations and trusted contacts or donated directly to the City of Brovary for their use on critical humanitarian needs.
In addition to CFNIL's in-kind administrative and technical support, the foundation is making a $5,000 lead gift toward this initiative. The Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau is also making a lead gift of $5,000.
BROVARY, UKRAINE -- ROCKFORD'S SISTER CITY SINCE 1995
The relationship between the City of Rockford and Brovary began in 1995 after a soccer team from Kyiv visited Rockford and suggested a sister city arrangement with Brovary, a Kyiv suburb of 110,000. As a gift to Brovary, a Rockford group traveled to build the first of two playgrounds for Brovary’s children. They did not use wood, because of the risk that it might be stripped to heat homes during the harsh winters amidst a long and brutal recession. These two projects were the beginning of Kids Around the World, a Rockford organization that builds playgrounds for children in poverty-stricken and war-torn foreign cities.
Interactive Map of Brovary, Ukraine
Questions? Contact Jennifer!
