City of Goodness shields orphans and mothers despite funding setbacks

Hope in the midst of war in Ukraine 

Evacuated children from Mykolaiv, Ukraine reside at City of Goodness after their own orphanage experienced damage from Russian missiles and shelling.

Toddlers happily run towards me and curiously touch the buttons of my DSLR camera as I snap away. These kids aged one to five have already experienced more trauma in their short life than I have in my 33 years. The world is unjust, and they are orphans through no fault of their own. Not only will they never feel the unconditional love of a parent, but they have already felt the fear of evacuation from Mykolaiv, a city torn to shreds by Russian savages. 

Despite all of this they run towards me, arms open wide, grinning ear to ear, ready to be embraced and feel — even if for just a moment — attention and care. It’s not that they are unloved. Far from it, the caregivers at City of Goodness, a shelter for orphans and mothers escaping harrowing situations, try to fill the void through hugs, lessons, and patience. It's no easy feat to raise more than 60 toddlers that are not your blood relation, but it is yet another example of the resilience of the Ukrainian people. 

City of Goodness started as a battered women's shelter that aids mothers not only with housing and basic needs but with moral support that helps them become independent.  Maryna Martyshchuk, the director at City of Goodness, understands this all too well for she found a haven here a little over a year ago when she showed up with nothing but her four children, ages 2 to 10. Her late husband suffered from the mania that sent him into such aggressive episodes that her children were terrified, and she was black and blue from constant daily beatings. His psychologist told Maryna to run because she knew how dangerous he was and despite intervention from the justice system and a psychiatric ward, his tyranny continued. 

“Our laws have loopholes and he was a very intelligent and dangerous man. No matter where I went, whether to my parents or friends, he would always find us," she explains with quiet dignity. "I knew I had to get somewhere where he couldn't get to us."

He threatened to kill her with the pistol he kept at home if she tried to escape, a threat that felt all too real given his psychotic episodes. He only let their oldest daughter, Liza, age 10, out of the house occasionally, who Maryna says saved their life by sounding the alarm during one of her visits to the local grocery store. 

“She had to grow up so fast — too fast,” Maryna says. 

With the help of friends and family, she got away. And after seeing a Facebook ad arrived on the doorsteps of City of Goodness in April 2021. He found her regardless but thanks to their strong security system as well as the private security that patrols the grounds, he never got to Maryna or her children again. 

“When he came banging on the doors, I just didn’t go outside, and he couldn't get inside," she said. "I never felt at ease until he was found drowned in a lake a year later." 

Maryna and her children received immediate psychological care and counseling from the therapists at the center whose salaries are paid for by generous donors. Despite the government providing zero funding, social services and the police often refer mothers toCity of Goodness, or they find them through social media.

City of Goodness can house up to 500 victims of trauma, abuse and war.

It took her a year of serious therapy and his passing to get through her grueling past and “a sea of tears and tissues before the real work began of building a brighter future,” Maryna says. “Once mothers heal, they begin to reveal their dreams from a past life.” 

Maryna herself went to medical school, studied psychology, and was certified to perform rehabilitative massages before her husband forced her into domestic servitude where even then she learned to tailor clothing so she could do something. City of Goodness supports these women’s dreams by enrolling and paying for their continuing education, finding them mentors and jobs, and checking up on them even after they leave the haven. 

“When I got here I understood that this is my chance for something better despite society telling me that I wouldn’t be able to support my four children by myself,” she explains. 

The staff instill self-confidence and help them see that they can raise their children independently despite the stigma that single motherhood still brings in Ukraine. Maryna became the director of City of Goodness whose founder Marta Levchenko says is suited for the role given what she has overcome. 

“Once a mother believes in herself, she can do anything and will do everything for her children,” Maryna explains. 

Marta founded City of Goodness in honor of a mother with little means whose child had cancer and passed away due to a lack of funds to treat the life-threatening disease in time. She inspired Marta to open a center where mothers could thrive despite their backgrounds. Their humble beginnings were in a rented building that could only house 30 people. Today, the center houses 16 single mothers and 42 of their children in addition to the 67 orphans from Mykolaiv and some grandparents. Staff doesn't just provide housing, they ensure everything is clean, aesthetically pleasing and safe, so that when mothers leave, their standards are heightened, and they are less likely to return to their past life. 

Present-day, mothers aren't just escaping an abusive past, but gunfire missiles and the threat of rape and death at the hands of Russian soldiers. The center has already seen an influx and opened its doors to not just mothers but orphans, which numbered about 100,000 before the war. 

The building which was initially meant to be a daycare for newborns and a training center for their mothers when it opened in 2020, was remodeled within two weeks to welcome 67 Mykolaiv orphans aged up to five years when the war started in February of 2022. Their phones didn't stop ringing when Russia began its assault and bedrooms that once housed one family now had three. In April, they rented another building to ensure they can house the influx, but within a week that home was packed full of refugees who couldn't go back to their cities turned battlegrounds. 

“On May 3 we started to dig a hole for our fourth building that we hoped to finish by Sept 1 but with the dollar rising in value and manufacturing plants closing due to fighting we were stalled,” Maryna says. “We hope to open in a few weeks where there will be an additional 115 spots for those in need.” 

They expect the need to grow as wives become widows, orphanages are bombarded, and military husbands return with severe PTSD in a country that isn’t prepared to adequately treat such an influx. 

Organizations like Spartan Sword — a nonprofit started by American veterans who themselves understand wartime trauma — know the dark ramifications of PTSD and are applying their wartime lessons to help kids. 

“Spartan Sword recognizes that there are no greater victims of war than children,” said Steven Danyluk, President of Spartan Sword. “Our mission is to return the most independence and mental wellbeing to our nation’s veterans. We can think of no better way to do so than to use some of our experience and expertise to help aid the smallest victims of the current war in Ukraine.” 

In collaboration with the Ukrainian Women's Association of America (UWAA) — a Chicago-based non-profit whose mission is to help children in Ukraine — they are helping fund the build of the fourth building on City of Goodness's campus. 

“We have been working with City of Goodness to support their mission in aiding mothers and their children since before Russia started terrorizing Ukraine’s most vulnerable population,” said Oksana Taratula, President of UWAA. “Our members are passionate about ensuring children lead healthy and happy childhoods and today the support is even more important as funding that would normally go to support children are now being redirected to more pressing military needs.” 

Donations and Ukrainian government funding that would make their way to aid children are redirected to aid soldiers fighting for freedom and the military to back them. Groups like Spartan Sword and UWAA work to fill the monetary void for organizations on the ground helping Ukrainian children and their caretakers. 

The bricks are laid, and remodeling is underway for the fourth building, funded in part by Spartan Sword and UWAA. It’s set to have a state-of-the-art bomb shelter and emergency exits in case missiles reach Chernivtsi, the city where they are located that has thus far been unscathed. Funding is needed for everything from building materials, to a sewage system, and the labor to make it happen. 

Additionally, they need to pay staff salaries so children can continue to have extracurricular activities like dance, theater, teachers who tutor them, and self-defense classes. Many arrive with food insecurity and are astonished when they are fed five times a day with hearty meals that include meat and sweets — foods previously reserved only on special occasions. Donations continuously feed more than 100 women and children.

Many children experience life’s first milestones at City of Goodness. This baby girl takes her first steps.

"We try to do everything so that children could have a childhood and forget about the war," Maryna says. 

Some children arriving from the east have only ever heard Russian, they’ve never spoken or heard Ukrainian. Here they learn about Ukraine and teachers work to instill patriotism. City of Goodness is unlike any other social service in Ukraine because of the support they offer and because they are nondenominational. They bring in speakers from all different faiths to teach moms who want to attend about theology without shoving it down their throats.

They also do everything in their means to secure medical care for children who are seriously ill. Sonya, a child that is currently in their care, is undergoing chemotherapy in Kyiv for retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer. Her siblings are with caretakers while her mother stays with her at the hospital more than 330 miles away. 

“Centers like ours are non-existent in Ukraine,” Maryna explains. “But they are needed because we have seen how mothers and children thrive once they are ready.”  

If you are looking to help children and support an organization that truly uplifts people out of hardship, donate to our fund. Proceeds are going directly to feed, clothe and safely shelter more than 100 of Ukraine’s most vulnerable wartime victims.