The Better Time Stories non-profit project was created in Europe to answer an urgent humanitarian crisis coming out from the Russian aggressive war. The primary idea evolved around the Ukrainian social-tech enthusiast Andriy Shmyhelskyy’s project iKs (Interactive Kids Stories) that provided a solution for parents or other relatives to record themselves reading books to their kids. While this project had not been initially created to address such heavy issues, when the invasion began, the idea was reevaluated to specifically help Ukrainian children fleeing the war. The number of those kids is over 2 million, which is more than a quarter of the Ukrainian child population.
The organization handles requests from Ukrainian refugee families with children in Europe who have been disconnected from family members in their homeland under the invader's attack. The operational landscape currently consists of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and partially Austria. With every €15 donation Better Time Stories delivers a beautiful interactive set with 5 bilingual illustrated story books, 10 professionally narrated books and up to 25 stories narrated and recorded by every individual child’s dear person who stayed in Ukraine. The project helps children cope with painfully emotional separation and adaptation to the new environment under heavy circumstances by providing a comforting escape place with familiar voices and bright reassuring stories. The children reading bilingual books can also learn a new language – Dutch or German with Ukrainian translation – to feel welcome and supported in a new society.
Better Time Stories’ opportunity to come into life was initially supported by number 5 foundation, a nonprofit founded by the Dutch Princess Laurentien and Prince Constantijn who continue their patronage over the project. Number 5 foundation manages the community funding and assures a stable financial ground for Better Time Stories’ operations, while the tech part lies within iKs’ responsibilities. Other patrons of the project include three First Ladies of state – Olena Zelenska of Ukraine, Elke Büdenbender of Germany and Doris Schmidauer of Austria.
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