The celebration of St. George and England drew a full house to the ballroom of the Budapest Marriott Hotel on April 22, also raising HUF 1.924 million for the Food Bank for Ukrainian Conflict Refugees in Budapest and UNICEF, to help children affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, the two charities say.
Oksana Matviishyna is a 43-year-old, highly qualified, and determined Ukrainian teacher from Kyiv. She is a single mother who was on a short holiday with her children in Hungary when Russia invaded her homeland. Oksana felt a duty to return home and help with the war effort, but when she saw the incoming flood of refugees most of them women and children she realized she was needed elsewhere. Leveraging her experience, Oksana created a “school within a school” at the American International School of Budapest where more than 200 Ukrainian children, including her own, can receive education in their native language, and the social and emotional support they need to survive the war.