Be a Santa for a Child in Ukraine — Christmas Gifts 2026
This is a new campaign, and it stands entirely on its own. Lion's Heart Foundation has chosen to support Voices of Children, whose psychologists care for children living with the war in Ukraine — and this Christmas, we are helping them put a gift into the hands of every child they look after. There is no party and no occasion behind it: anyone, anywhere, can become a Santa for one of these children. All it takes is a donation — $31 sponsors one complete gift for one child.
For many Ukrainian children, war is not news — it is their everyday life. Some were injured by mines and shelling. Some are waiting for a parent who is in captivity or missing. Some were returned from deportation. Some have lost a parent forever.
The psychologists of Voices of Children work with these children every day — in regional centers, in mobile teams, in camps, and online — helping them find their footing again.
This winter, Voices of Children is preparing Christmas gifts for 1,150 children in its care. 455 gifts are already sponsored — 695 children are still waiting for their Santa. Lion's Heart Foundation is joining in, and inviting you to join us.
What's inside each gift
Each gift bag holds warmth and care a child can use all year: an insulated mug, a favorite stress-relief toy, hot cocoa with marshmallows, an emotional well-being guide, a sticker pack — and a bracelet with the number of Voices of Children's free psychological support helpline, so every child knows where to turn when things get hard.
Who receives the gifts
- Children from internally displaced families
- Children who have lost one or both parents
- Children of Ukrainian defenders, prisoners of war, and those missing in action
- Children with disabilities
- Children living in frontline or de-occupied communities
Where the gifts go
Voices of Children teams deliver the gifts in person across 12 regions of Ukraine — Truskavets, Lviv, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kropyvnytskyi, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhia — including remote communities reached by their mobile teams.
The full picture
One complete gift costs UAH 1,300 — about $31. The whole program is 1,150 gifts: UAH 1.5 million (about $33,000). Every $31 you give sponsors one full gift for one child — the mug, the toy, the cocoa, the guide, the stickers, and the bracelet that connects a child to a psychologist whenever they need one.
How it works
1. You sponsor a Christmas gift (or any amount).
2. Lion's Heart Foundation adds its own contribution and grants the collected funds to Voices of Children.
3. Their team buys and personally delivers the gifts to the children.
4. After the holidays, we publish a full report — photos and stories — for every donor.
We've done this before — our work with Voices of Children
Lion's Heart Foundation has partnered with Voices of Children since 2024. In 2024, we granted $20,500 to Voices of Children — and with our approval, that grant funded the work of its centre in Chernihiv from February to May 2025.
Those 557 people were 406 children and 151 adults, and 44 families received ongoing case support alongside the sessions. It is part of a bigger picture, too: across all of our campaigns, our community has raised $157,904 on Givebutter since 2023.
That is why we are running this campaign — and why we are putting our own money in first: Lion's Heart Foundation has committed to sponsor 320 gifts ($9,920) itself. Every gift you add takes us further toward all 695 children still waiting for a Santa.
The children and the team your gift reaches
These photographs come from Voices of Children's reports on the Chernihiv centre our community funded in 2025 — the same psychologists, the same kind of care, that your Christmas gift supports this year.
You will see where your gift went
As a partner in this program, Voices of Children provides a narrative report with photos, videos, and feedback from the children, the number of children supported and the regions reached, and a transparent financial report. We will publish all of it on this page.
No amount is too small: a gift is a message to a child that somewhere across the ocean, a stranger remembers them.
Lion's Heart Foundation Inc (EIN 93-4930442) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization; donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. All funds raised by this campaign will be granted to the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation (Ukraine) for its Christmas Gifts 2026 program. A public report on the delivery of the gifts will be published on this page after the holidays.
Florida registration #CH86030. A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.
