Bookmark Box for Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has had a devastating impact on the world, but on none more so than the millions of children that were torn from their way of life, leaving behind their homes, loved ones, education, and belongings.

Bookmark wanted to offer support to the thousands of Ukrainian children and their families arriving in the UK and in April 2022, we launched the Bookmark Box for Ukraine. The box was a special and personal gift for the children, which they could keep forever. We are a children’s literacy charity, founded in 2018 with a simple vision: we want every child to read. We support children through our volunteer-led reading programme, along with essential reading resources and grants for schools to embed reading for pleasure in pupils’ lives. The campaign was ambitious, rooted in a deep sense of responsibility to support Ukrainian child refugees experiencing a traumatic experience, provide comfort as they adjusted to their new surroundings and navigated a new school system. In less than four months, we exceeded our fundraising target of £1 million, distributing 6,500 boxes to Ukrainian children across the country, 30% more than our initial 5,000 box target.