Name: Kateryna Sadovaia
Age: 29
Education: Master’s degree in marketing
Profession: Head of marketing at Akva-Premium, charity activist
Did you know? She loves to sing the songs of Tina Turner.
It started for Kateryna Sadovaia several years ago, when a friend’s son was born prematurely.
The maternity ward where he was born didn’t have the necessary equipment to care for a pre-term baby. Sadovaia and her friends and colleagues gathered money to save his life, but they were too late. Her friend’s son died.
Then, one day, Sadovaia learned that Ukrainian oligarch and philanthropist Victor Pinchuk was supporting a program to help premature babies called Cradles of Hope. She began reading up on the issue and learned that, in Ukraine, one in 20 babies is born pre-term. These newborns require long, complex and expensive treatment that puts a strain on Ukraine’s underfunded hospitals.
Sadovaia began reaching out to the Ukrainian Philanthropic Marketplace, an organization sponsored by Pinchuk, to learn what equipment was lacking in Ukrainian hospitals. Then she thought about how to gather money for this cause and raise public awareness.
That’s how #BDayVyklyk (#BDayChallenge) was born. On July 24, 2017 — the eve of her 28th birthday — Sadovaia released a video calling on Ukrainians to donate money to help premature babies instead of birthday gifts. The project aims to gather Hr 2 million (more than $72,000) to purchase modern Neopuff TMRD‑900 infant resuscitators for 16 neonatal centers partnered with the Cradles of Hope program.
“Give babies the gift of life and the opportunity to happily celebrate their own birthdays each year,” Sadovaia said in the video.
At the core of the program was a common philanthropic practice: asking friends to make donations to charity. Sadovaia extended this approach beyond birthdays. She also involved celebrities like musician Onuka, television presenter Volodymyr Ostapchuk, and others who drew pictures and then sold them to raise money for the project. And Sadovaia organized paid talks by Ukrainian fashion designers to support the cause.
#BDayVyklyk has already raised nearly Hr 1.5 million ($41,000). It has also provided Neopuff machines to nine of the planned 16 centers. Sadovaia collects all the donations online. It all goes to buy infant resuscitators, she says. In most cases, Sadovaia hands over the machines herself, which allows her to meet doctors and find out what else their hospitals need. In the future, Sadovaia wants to develop this program further and show people that charity can be honest — even in Ukraine.
“I would like to find support to develop this project beyond our country’s borders,” she says, “so that people aren’t afraid to donate to Ukraine and will know that charity can be transparent.”
