Brighten up the lives of Ukrainian refugee children
An interactive book set with comforting stories that reconnects families from Ukraine
An interactive book set with comforting stories that reconnects families from Ukraine
Non-profit project under patronage of:
Laurentien van Oranje
Olena Zelenska
Elke Büdenbender
Doris Schmidauer
That’s a quarter of the child population in Ukraine.
Almost 1 million Ukrainian refugees are now in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria.
Better Times Stories is a volunteer based effort to directly connect donors and refugee children
Books were left behind with only a few things to carry while fleeing the war in Ukraine. No reading time for months, and counting.
A new language environment causes children to fall behind in development, combined with social distress.
Fathers and many other relatives are staying behind in Ukraine with the possibility that they will never see or hear from them again.
Carefully selected stories from the Top 5 bestselling illustrators and authors that help children cope with their situations. Bringing a piece of home to the children.
Bilingual books with professionally narrated audiobooks in both languages helping kids with early reading and new language.
Helping children to deal with separation. Fathers and other relatives narrate the books that could be read along anytime and as many times as kids wish.
€60 package as €15 donation gift (exl. shipping)
For kids
aged 3 to 7
Shipping now:
NL, BE, DE, AU
A specially designed package for kids aged 3 to 7 in this particular situation. Five bilingual interactive picture books unite them with fathers and help them to adapt to their new language environment.
Contents:
- 5x bilingual picture books
- 10x professionally narrated audiobooks (1.5 hours)
- up to 25x family narrations (remotely recorded stories by family members staying behind in Ukraine)
- DIY crafts box to create your own talking character.
Donating? Once donated, your gifts will be automatically matched and delivered to the family that requested a package. You will be notified once the package(s) are delivered.
Requesting? As Ukrainian refugee family with temporary residence in the Netherlands, Flanders (Belgium), Germany or Austria you can request a free package. Once requested, we will do our best to match you with a donor and ship the package.
Helping children to cope with separation. Each book is remotely recordable by family members staying behind in Ukraine.
1
Simple as sending a text.
2
Open your personal link and start reading the story.
3
Connecting children with separated fathers and other relatives for a storytime
Each book could be narrated by up to 5 family members.
Reading is essential for children’s language development. Our bilingual picture books include both text and audio narration in two languages.
Kids can immediately tap and play audiobooks with music and sound effects in both languages. They can read along while they learn the words of the new language. These are the people helping out the children who need it:
We've created a special package to give the best gifting experience, which helps children (re)connect with you as the giver and with family members who may be far away. First, kids get to explore their creativity with arts and crafts, learning how to create their own talking characters and using their imaginations and language skills. Then, they get to read and listen in both languages. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Better Time Stories allows fathers and other relatives in Ukraine to record a story once, so the kids can listen to a familiar voice during the day or when falling asleep. We hope this package helps you and your family stay connected and have fun together!
For best experience either individually or group setting - we recommend combining crafts workshop with reading session during the gifting moment.
Packages are for Ukrainian refugee families with children ages 3 to 7 who temporarily reside in the Netherlands, Flanders (Belgium), Germany, and Austria. One package per family.
Press the button and complete your donation for the amount of gifts necessary. For best experience we recommend combining crafts workshop with reading session during the gifting moment. We would be happy to assist you in this process.
Would your company like to make a donation or sponsor a number of families? Your company can either directly gift the packages to families or select a local organization working with Ukrainian refugee children and gift the packages to them. We can also issue gift cards that you can share with Ukrainian families. Please write us an email at support@bettertimestories.com
We created two editions of the packages Dutch/Ukrainian and German/Ukrainian. They are shipped to counties where it’s the main language.
Dutch/Ukrainian intended for Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium), while German/Ukrainian for Germany and Austria.
Packages are delivered through our fulfillment partners (PostNL or DHL). Either directly to the home address or bulk shipments to requested locations by organizations.
Press the button Donate gift and complete your donation. Within couple of days you will be able to make a gift.
Please share this website with your host family, friends and family, or local organizations for them to make a donation gift.
Just wanted to give you a heads up that we'll be releasing an update in May. We also wanted to share that the majority of the donations we received were for the packages sent to the Ukrainian families in need. We truly appreciate your generosity and support towards our cause. Thank you for making a difference!
We wanted to let you know that we'll be providing an update in May. We're putting in a lot of effort to make sure that we can offer the best possible gifting experience while supporting as many Ukrainian families as we can. In order to achieve this goal, we need to make a few changes and streamline the gifting process. We just want to remind you that our organization doesn't actually give the gifts - it's the amazing sponsors who generously support the children in need. We truly appreciate your support and understanding as we work towards improving our operations.
Can't find the answer you're looking for?
Please mail us at support@bettertimestories.com