Bomb shelter of Lyceum No. 55 in Mykolaiv

Bomb shelter

In the summer of 2023, we launched our “Back to School” campaign — a fundraiser to equip shelters and learning spaces so that children in frontline and border regions could safely return to in-person classes in the fall.

The new bomb shelter at Lyceum No. 55 is one of the key results of this campaign. We presented it symbolically just before kicking off our next campaign in the summer of 2024.

City Mykolaiv
Students 1241
Funded ₴9,700,000
Partners Ukrainska Pravda, CORE Response, educators of Lviv, kiwi

Project's story

What happened

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, children in Mykolaiv have been unable to return to offline learning.

The city is located at a dangerous distance from the enemy: air raid sirens sound frequently, and air strikes occur quickly.The availability of well-equipped and comfortable shelters in schools, where the educational process can continue as comfortably as in a classroom, was one of the key criteria that could allow the city to bring children back to their desks.

Project's story

The school

Mykolaiv Lyceum No. 55 is one of the largest schools in the city.

It was fortunate to remain almost undamaged. With the support of Plan International, our foundation was able to set up one of our learning centers here so that children could at least meet in person for a short time, use technology, and attend extracurricular activities.

However, without a proper shelter, the lyceum could not open and operate for a full school day.

Project's story

Our solution

Thanks to the support of thousands of Ukrainians, we have set up the largest school shelter in Mykolaiv.

It is over 900 square metres of educational space with high-quality renovations, where children can not only wait out the alarm, but also continue their education.

The space has several separate rooms, the largest of which is additionally divided by soundproof curtains to comfortably accommodate several classes.

As always, we thought through every detail of the shelter's transformation.

Making a long stay underground comfortable is a real challenge, so we paid a lot of attention to upgrading the ventilation and lighting. The shelter also has brand new changing rooms and a medical centre.

The room is multifunctional thanks to a variety of furniture that can be easily rearranged or folded away to transform the classroom into a cinema or a space for creativity.

We also took care of filling the space.

There are laptops and projectors, internet access, a mini-library, and shelves for its expansion.

We created this space to be bright and cheerful, so the walls are brightly coloured and decorated with works by Ukrainian artist and illustrator Mykyta Titov, playful portraits of Ukrainian writers by Botan Studio, and posters featuring the recognisable savED mascot — a bee 🐝.

Who helped make it happen?

A partnership that truly delivered

₴4 million

collected by Ukrainska Pravda and its readers.

Ukrainska Pravda, the school’s ambassador, raised 4 million UAH. Their team traveled to Mykolaiv and produced an in-depth report showing why proper shelters in schools are so essential.

₴4 million

added by Sean Penn’s humanitarian organization, CORE Response, which matched the amount raised by UP.

The educators community in Lviv also contributed over 1 million UAH. And kiwi, a flight-search service, added about 800 thousand UAH to furnish the space.

Gallery

The result