Our Story
The initiative started spontaneously, as George Arveladze and his wife Anastasia simply could not stand idle as beloved Ukrainian cities were being bombarded indiscriminately. They put all their effort into evacuating orphanages from the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which had turned into a hellish scene of the Russian military onslaught.
Together with their Georgian friends, David Natroshvili, Nikoloz Lomia, Shalva Bukia, and Morris Varduashvili (Spribe boys), they not only helped take the children away from shelling, but also took full responsibility for their further accommodation, transportation, and all other necessities of life such as food, medicine, clothing, toys, etc. Anastasia and George were on the ground, directly interacting with those with very particular needs, so the Spribe boys could have an immediate impact by targeted donations.
With the help of the kind people of Chernivtsi, who openheartedly responded to the call to help the children, and in cooperation with the Chernivtsi Regional Administration, a building that perfectly matched all the needs was allocated. The building is a government property that had been intended for a children's sports camp. But the leadership of the Chernivtsi region kindly provided the building for turning it into a center for the settlement of the orphans. And house the evacuated orphanages.
To maintain and support the center, and to make sure it would permanently operate at the highest level, in accordance with the world's leading practices, it was decided to establish a non-profit charitable foundation. Thus, the DOBRODEEARIUM FOUNDATION was born in March 2022.
Together with George Arveladze, another founder of Dobrodeearium is Pavel Patsarnjuk - Chernivtsi native entrepreneur and philanthropist, without whom it would have been impossible to navigate through local administrative and bureaucratic procedures.
Along the process, the team got stronger and grew in numbers. Georgian entrepreneur and philanthropist Soso Mgeladze, who himself has received and accommodated more than 100 Ukrainian refugees in Georgia, joined the process and made significant contributions.
Always openhearted and famous for their generosity, twin brothers Sergi and Vano Nakaidze, lifetime friends of George Arveladze, responded to the call with their characteristic kindness and enthusiasm to help.
The pivotal impact was made by the Director of SigmaCamp USA, Elena Yakubovskaya, and her spouse Mark Lukin, both research scientists of the Pharmacology Department of Stony Brook University, NY. Their relentless drive to help the children was vital in managing and funding the project quickly in the vital early stages. Elena and Mark personally arrived in Chernivtsi and physically worked to furnish and prepare the premises for the arrival of the children.
Significant contributions were made by Art Davidson and his family. Art is a writer, former mountaineer, and philanthropist with a huge heart for children. He has been helping children in war-torn regions of the world for many years. Like Elena and Mark, ignoring the dangers of war, Art arrived from the United States to Chernivtsi, together with his son Joe and daughter Cungauyar to help
Together, the Dobrodeearium team overtook a staggering workload. Fully preparing the building for the arrival of the children was finished in three short weeks and on Monday, April 25, after two months of running away from war and staying in temporary shelters, the first group of 53 children was received.