School shelter set up in Mykolayiv region with the support of Oschadbank and Visa

KYIV, December 14, 2023 — Oschadbank and Visa opened a shelter for students of Snihurivka Lyceum No. 3 in the Mykolaiv region, allowing about 600 children to return to offline education. The funds for setting up the shelter were collected within the “Give Shelter to Children” charity initiative. From each Visa card transaction, Oschadbank transferred 1 hryvnia to refurbish the shelter of the only remaining school in the de-occupied Snihurivka. As a result, organizers managed to raise 1,500,000 hryvnias.

Oschadbank and Visa launched the second wave of the “Give Shelter to Children” initiative in October. As part of the first wave of the project, a renovated shelter for employees and students was opened in secondary school No. 6 in the city of Shostka (Sumy region) this July.

Repairs at the Snihurivka Lyceum lasted more than a month. The partners were inspired to join the project by a special episode of Yevhenii Yanovych's show “20:23” about the lyceum and the educational process in the Mykolaiv region.

The opening ceremony of the safe space was attended by Ivan Kukhta, Head of the Snihurivka City Military Administration, Anton Tiutiun, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Oshchadbank, and Anna Putsova, Co-Founder of the savED fund.

“The goal of this initiative is to help children continue their offline education since it makes the educational process more effective. This time, the institution, which received a new shelter, is located in the de-occupied territory. Thanks to this project, hundreds of students will be able to continue their studies at the lyceum. I would like to thank the representatives of Visa once again for supporting this noble initiative. Safe education is our joint contribution to a successful post-war Ukraine,” commented Serhii Naumov, Chairman of the Board of Oschadbank.

“We want to make the learning process in Ukrainian schools safe and, therefore, continuous. The availability of shelters in educational facilities is the need of the hour. High-quality education for Ukrainian schoolchildren is a prerequisite, without which a successful state is impossible. Children in the de-occupied territories must have access to a proper educational process, and we are proud to help organize it,” noted Anton Tiutiun, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Oshchadbank.

“As a company that stands on the principles of inclusion and strives to uplift everyone everywhere, we at Visa believe that every child has the right to a full-fledged education. We are proud to continue our partnership with Oschadbank to implement the exceptionally important mission of providing Ukrainian schoolchildren with a safe educational environment. And thanks to the simple mechanics of the fundraiser, tens of thousands of Ukrainians were able to join the charitable purpose and give shelter to children, simply paying with a Visa card from Oshchadbank conveniently and quickly,” commented Svitlana Chyrva, Visa Vice President, Country Manager for Ukraine and Moldova.

Together with Plan International, savED is creating the “Beehive” educational center in the lyceum’s shelter, a modern location with computers, books, board games, etc. In this center, children will be able to spend more time with teachers and peers.

Partners from the Embassy of Lithuania and the Rehau company also joined the reconstruction of the lyceum and financed the replacement of damaged windows.

“In the conditions Ukrainian education system finds itself today, the availability of such underground spaces at school is the only right way to give children socialization and knowledge. Students should not be “sitting through” air raid alerts in cramped, unfurnished basements; their time is too valuable and should be used for learning and development. We are grateful to Oschadbank and Visa for their contribution to the future of Snihurivka children; this is a true example for all Ukrainian businesses,” Anna Putsova, Co-Founder and Head of Regional Development of the savED fund, commented on the event.

About Visa

Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating payments transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at Visa.com.ua.

About Oshchadbank

Oshchadbank is the leading Ukrainian universal commercial bank, 100% of whose shares belong to the state. The bank has the largest network of branches and provides services to more than 6.2 million active customers, including individuals, SMEs, and the biggest private and state-owned Ukrainian companies.

About savED

savED is an international charitable foundation that restores access to education in Ukrainian communities that suffered from the Russian war against Ukraine. savED was founded in the summer of 2022 by Anna Novosad, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine (2019–2020), and the educational foundation GoGlobal. savED collects and analyzes the needs of schools, assesses the damage to educational infrastructure in war-affected regions, restores damaged schools and school premises, equips shelters, creates digital education centers, implements the UActive youth program, and develops educational concepts and strategies for schools.