05/06/2026
National Volunteers’ Week is a wonderful opportunity to say thank you to the people who make Inverclyde Ukrainian Club SCIO alive, growing, and stronger with every passing month.
Our first official year has shown what a community can achieve when it is united by shared values, mutual support, and a genuine desire to help others. We have held dozens of meetings, workshops, cultural events, and family initiatives. And all of this exists only thanks to our volunteers — people who come after work, in between responsibilities, sometimes with children in their arms, sometimes tired, but always showing up.
Special thanks go to Yuliia Chaika, whose talent and energy have become an essential part of the "Breaking Bread" project and the development of the club’s confectionery direction. Her contribution helped turn this initiative into our first successful pilot project, bringing people together and showing the potential of new cultural initiatives such as the "Easter Bread Festival".
We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the volunteer team of the “My Teacher” art exhibition at Ocean Terminal — our first major cultural event of the year. It demonstrated the strength of a team that can work calmly, collaboratively, and with trust.
A special thank you to our catering team — Оксана Чаплигіна, Halyna Syroid, Леся Біленко , Olena Chupryna, Людмила Кошкіна, Maria Tsybulska, Natalia Mykhailivska, and Yuliia Chaika , Софія Чаплигіна — for creating an atmosphere of warmth and hospitality at every event.
We are grateful to our musicians — Elena Kostievich and Анастасия Белимготова— for the live musical presence that makes our cultural events truly special.
We also thank our partners: the Ukrainian choir Solo Way, led by Bozhena Yakymenko, for cultural collaboration and support; and Olha Reshetova for her author-led workshops, initiative, and meaningful contribution to the development of our projects.
A sincere thank you to Іванна Склярова and Kateryna Udovenko, our photographers and videographers, for preserving the visual story of the club and building its living archive.
We are grateful to our youth volunteer team — Mila and Denys Rudenko, Софія Чаплигіна, Roman Chaika, Dana Tsybulska, Karolina Petrenko, and Karina Kulachok — for their readiness to get involved and support the club’s initiatives.
Special appreciation goes to our young mothers — Яна Петренко, Marina Antipatrova, and their families — for participating in the life of the club despite the demands of family and childcare.
Thank you to our male volunteer team — Mykhailo Bilenko, Roman Chaika, Богдан Любінець, Vadym Mazurov, Mykhailo Bosei, and Maksym Tsybulskyi — for your reliability and constant support.
Today we also extend our gratitude to every volunteer who has been with us this year, as well as those who stood at the origins of the club’s creation: Denys and Viktoriia Ro, Nataliia and Svitlana Stosha, Iryna Khlypavka, Liudmyla and Yevhen Fomenko Iren Polen, Natallia Voronzova, Светлана Остапенко, Al’ona Ostapenko — and everyone who supported us at events, in organisation, in welcoming guests, and in creating the atmosphere of a shared home we are building together.
And finally, our sincere thanks to our Trustees - Kathryn Bell, Yana Kulachok, Halyna Syroid, Ross Ahlfeld, Rhys McCole, Kenny Marshall, Willie Sutherland and especially to Jim Strachan and Project Coordinator Marina Gorbunova for strategic development, continued support, partnerships, work with funding and grant programmes, and for the daily commitment that has made this first official year of Inverclyde Ukrainian Club a year of growth, achievement, and confident progress.
Thank you to everyone who walks this path with us.
Together we are building not just an organisation, but a community where people support each other, preserve culture, find friends, and build a future.
