The award of the President of Ukraine

There is no such thing as too many pleasant events, so we share another no less grand one.

On December 5, the country celebrated International Volunteer Day. the Office of the President of Ukraine organized a special event in the Mystetsky Arsenal museum complex in Kyiv. Volunteers and public activists from various fields of activity were invited to participate: medical and social assistance, climate change adaptation and ecology, animal protection, psychological rehabilitation assistance, humanitarian education and advocacy, and “volunteering without borders”.
The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi took part in the celebrations.
He noted how extremely important the role and strength of the volunteer movement in our country is, and presented state awards for significant personal merits to the development of the volunteer movement, and for active charitable and humanist activities.
The tireless founder of the NGO “Small Heart with Art” and the “Superheroes School” Evgenia Smirnova was also among the awardees! She was awarded the Order of Princess Olga of the III degree. We are happy and proud of it because Evgenia’s longstanding hard work has received recognition from the state at the highest level.
Implemented ideas, projects, achievements and victories that make up Evgenia’s path from a public activist:

In 2014, the art project Art Namet: reflections of the art world on the events of the end of 2013.

In 2015, the NGO “Small Heart with Art” was founded. It constantly implements a number of social projects aimed at improving the quality of life of children and youth.

Boxes of Courage: after a drip, bandaging or any other treatment, each kid gets a little gift – a toy. Next time it won’t be so scary because every brave kid is rewarded. If you are not afraid, the procedures are twice as fast.

Essential kits: some kids in the children’s HIV department were not given basic things in the hospital – underwear, a toothbrush, soap and towels. These are the things you can’t do without.

In 2016, a network of Superheroes Schools was established to ensure the constitutional right to education of children in inpatient treatment in medical institutions. The first School was established for young patients at the Center for the Treatment of Children with HIV/AIDS in the National Children’s Specialized Hospital “Okhmatdyt” of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

Currently, there are 3 teaching classes, a library with 10,000 books of educational and fiction literature, a residence with a playground in the yard with inclusive swings, a mini football field, a garden and traffic lights. There is also a supermobile that takes children to school and to treatment.

In an effort to make the School work in every children’s hospital, a social franchise “School of Superheroes: A Guide to Implementation” was created. It contains guidelines on opening a School in a hospital, instructions for teachers, teaching methodology, medical rules and regulations, incentive program peculiarities, legal and regulatory issues, and a brand book to enable children in any medical institution in the country to receive quality education.

The franchise has already established Superhero Schools in 6 hospitals in Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Khmelnytsky regions.
The Superheroes School in the Municipal Non-Profit Enterprise “City Clinical Children’s Hospital № 16” is underway.
To prepare teachers for hospital work, our team has come up with an online course “How to teach superheroes? Online Hospital Teacher Training Course”.

On October 28, 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a resolution on the establishment of the Public Institution “Superheroes School” to provide educational services to children in hospitals.

Over the years there have been trial and error, victories and defeats, and ups and downs. However, there was never a desire to give up on our dreams. Our team, led by Evgenia, has achieved what we ourselves did not even deem possible. There will be school classes operating in hospitals, teachers will come and children will study. But only the sky is the limit. We move on, we have new goals and objectives. Social responsibility and initiative are our state of mind and our way of thinking.

Achievements mentioned above, along with those unmentioned, in public, educational and charitable scopes of activity, implemented upon the initiative and under the supervision of Evgenia Smirnova are a visible reason for awarding her the Order of Princess Olga of the III degree. She is our tireless founder and our powerhouse.

We congratulate Evgenia and rejoice together!