A school shelter was built in the Mykolaiv region with the support of Oschadbank and Visa

Today, Oschadbank and Visa opened a shelter space for students of Snihuriv Lyceum No. 3 in the Mykolaiv region. As a result, about 600 children have returned to offline learning. The money for the shelter was raised as part of the "Give a Shelter to Children" charity campaign. For each Visa card transaction, Oschadbank transferred 1 hryvnia to equip the only surviving school in the de-occupied Snihuriv community. As a result, UAH 1,500,000 was raised.

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

The renovation work at Snihuriv Lyceum lasted more than a month. The partners were inspired to join the project by a special episode of Yevhen Yanovych's “20:23” show 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 Snihuriv City Military Administration, Anton Tyutyun, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Oschadbank, and Anna Putsova, co-founder of the savED Foundation.

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

"We want to make the learning process in Ukrainian schools safe and thus uninterrupted. The availability of shelters in educational institutions is a requirement of the times. A high-quality education for Ukrainian schoolchildren is a prerequisite for a successful state. Children in the de-occupied territories should have a full-fledged educational process, and we are proud to help organize it," said Anton Tyutyun, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Oschadbank.

"As a company that stands for inclusion and strives to be accessible to everyone, everywhere, we at Visa believe that every child has the right to a full education. We are proud to continue our partnership with Oschadbank to fulfill an extremely important mission - providing Ukrainian schoolchildren with a safe educational environment. And thanks to the convenient collection mechanics, tens of thousands of Ukrainians were able to join the charitable goal and give shelter to children by simply paying with a Visa card from Oschad conveniently and quickly," commented Svitlana Chyrva, Vice President, Regional Manager of Visa in Ukraine and Moldova.

Together with Plan International, savED is creating the Vulyk educational center in the lyceum's shelter, a modern location with computer equipment, books, board games, and more. In this center, children will be able to spend more time with teachers and peers.

Partners from the Lithuanian Embassy and Rehau also contributed to the lyceum's renovation by funding the replacement of damaged windows with new ones.

"In the conditions in which Ukrainian education is today, the availability of such underground spaces in schools is the only right way to provide children with socialization and knowledge. Pupils should not have to sit through air raids in cramped, unequipped 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 Snihuriv children; this is a real example for all Ukrainian businesses," commented Anna Putsova, co-founder and head of regional development at savED.

For reference

Visa (NYSE: V) is a global leader in the electronic payments industry. Every year, Visa processes payment transactions between consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries. Our mission is to connect the world with an innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network to help consumers, businesses and economies thrive. We believe that expanding access for everyone in the economy helps to increase the well-being of people around the world and will be the foundation for the global movement of money in the future. Learn more at Visa.com.ua.

Oschadbank is a leading Ukrainian universal commercial bank, 100% owned by the state. It has the most extensive network of outlets and provides services to more than 6.2 million active customers, including individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, and the largest private and state-owned companies in Ukraine.

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