The Rucksack Project

Thank you for featuring us in your newsletter! 💛

Franchetti Bond is continuing to show its support for displaced Ukrainian children by selling special edition sunflower Growbars in their Duke of York Square store during Chelsea Flower Show and Chelsea in Bloom this week (23rd-27th May).

Sunflowers have long been a beloved symbol of Ukrainian national identity and have emerged as a sign of resistance and peace. By buying a special edition sunflower Growbar, not only will you be supporting the Rucksack Project - an initiative providing therapy sessions to Ukrainian children - but growing the sunflowers will show your solidarity in creating peace in the war-torn country. Grow a sunflower and give a life this week.

Please visit the Franchetti Bond store to buy a Growbar at
50-51 Duke of York Square, London, SW3 4LY, or call 0207 823 5550 to reserve a bar.

We’ve had some incredible support over the past few months! Thank you to everyone for sharing the story of the Rucksack Project, we truly appreciate your work.

We want to keep reaching more displaced Ukrainian families, as there have been millions of children displaced by the invasion of Ukraine and need mental health support. We also need donations to keep our project running so we can continue supporting these families! Please donate via our website or on our JustGiving page (link in bio). If you would be interested in running an event with us, please send us a DM or email at [email protected].

On Sunday 30th April, the Rucksack Project came to the Ukrainian community via Zoom! We held an online reading and therapy session for Ukrainian parents and children who have been displaced on the island. It was a pleasure to meet everyone who came to the event, and we hope to meet you all in person soon!

A huge thank you to Karen, Tim, Liuba, Oksana, Colin and the Cafe Lingo Team for all your incredibly hard work. Thank you also to the Isle of Man community for being so supportive of the mental health of Ukrainian children who have been displaced by the war.

Photo courtesy: Dave Norton (Isle of Man Newspapers)

Happy World Book Day! We recognise the importance of reading for children and, as we encourage children to celebrate , we want to share some of the benefits we’ve seen with our Rucksack reading events:

- Ukrainian children have been able to work through their experiences of war trauma by reading the Rucksack story
- parents and caregivers have been able to support their children can bridge the gap in conversation about war experiences by using Rucksack as a healing tool
- non-Ukrainian pupils have been able to learn more about the war in an accessible manner in a safe space, and they have become unafraid to ask questions to displaced Ukrainian classmates. They have developed compassion for those around them affected by the war
- Rucksack has become a cultural exchange: young readers can learn English or Ukrainian, as the book has been written in both!

To our supporters in the UK, you can buy a copy of Rucksack on our website (link in our bio). All sales go into running trauma therapy sessions and book readings for displaced Ukrainian families.

You can also donate to our JustGiving page, so we can provide more Rucksack books for children.

As we acknowledge the tragic anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we want to leave you with some figures provided by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education.

Thank you to those who have donated to the Rucksack project. It is paramount, however, to continue supporting displaced Ukrainian children as we enter the second year of war. Please continue to donate to our project so we can reach the growing number of children who have been affected by russia’s aggression.

The Rucksack Project came to Reading School last Saturday to support families who have been displaced in the Reading area by working through their experiences of war trauma in a safe environment. The event was organised in collaboration with the New Roots Initiative (Нов

Thank you to those who are supporting the Rucksack Project by buying a book online - we’ve just posted off our orders from this week!

[UK only at the moment] If you would like to buy a book, please visit our website. Rucksack is also very kindly being stocked at and .

All of the proceeds from book sales are going to .uk to provide life-changing psychological support for displaced Ukrainian children. You can also donate to the project through our website. Thank you to those who have donated so far 💛

Calling Ukrainian families in Reading: Rucksack event 21st January! Please reserve your spot for our reading and talk through the link in bio 💛

Коли: 21 січня 2023, час 11:00 – 12:30

Місце: Редінґ Ґраммар Скул, Ерлеіґг Роад, Реадінґ, RG1 5LW

Проект для українських дітей, які залишили свої домівки через війну.

Запрошуємо на читання та обговорення діток віком вiд 5 до 10 років та їх батьків. Кожному учаснику книга у подарунок.

В програмі заходу: читання книги автором, спілкування з iлюстратором, автограф сессiя вiд авторки та ігрові заходи для дітей.
Дитяча книга РЮКЗАЧОК супроводжуєтся буклетом з вправами та порадами для батьків.

Для батькiв: спілкування з психологом, фахівцем з дитячих травм війни, вiдповiдi на питання вiд експертiв.

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RUCKSACK READING AND TALK

21 January 2023, 11am – 12:30pm

Reading School, Erleigh Road, Reading, RG1 5LW

A project for displaced Ukrainian children, we invite children aged 5 to 10 and their parents to read and discuss their experiences through the lens of the Rucksack book. Each participant receives a book as a gift.

Event program: reading of the book by the author, conversation with the illustrator, book signing and activities for children.
The children's book Rucksack is accompanied by a booklet with exercises and advice for parents on how to approach anxiety and war trauma.

For parents: Conversation with a psychologist, a specialist in children's war trauma, Q&A session with experts.

Since launching in September, the Rucksack project has already provided psychological support to hundreds of displaced children and their parents, but as we approach the New Year, we still need to help thousands of families across Europe.

We need your support in the coming year - please donate to the link in our bio to keep the project going and provide vital support to displaced Ukrainian children. Thank you to everyone for supporting us already!

From the entire Rucksack Project team, we wish you all a happy and peaceful New Year.

We are delighted that our project has been featured in the latest newsletter on protecting and promoting the rights of the child.

As we aim to expand our outreach to help as many displaced Ukrainian children and parents as possible, we invite you to donate whatever you can (link in our bio) to keep the project running. Thank you to everyone who has already donated - your support is truly making an impact on providing vital psychological help to displaced Ukrainian families.

If you are in London and you’d like to buy a copy of Rucksack, we are selling a limited number of books at in Duke of York Square. All of the profits will be going to .uk to support displaced Ukrainian children with vital trauma support.