Ukrainian Thanksgiving Fundraising

Paymentwall invites you to our annual charity event

November 26
7-10pm

Current pledge

$11,300.00

45/2 Pushkinskaya str, 2-d floor
Kyiv, Ukraine

Message from our CEO

In memory and honor of our beloved grandmothers
Tamara Fedorovna Butchenko and Müzeyyen Beykan Pamukcuzade

Müzeyyen Beykan Pamukcuzade, my beloved grandma, was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1916 to a Crimean immigrant family that had just moved to Istanbul after the Russian-Ottoman war.
Back in Bachchesaray, they were furniture manufacturers and cotton traders. The furniture trade business owned by her family back in Bahchesaray, Crimea was commissioned by the Ottoman Sultan to produce the gold woven black silk veil that covered the house built by Prophet Abraham in the middle of Kaba, Mecca.
She lived through WWI and the invasion of Istanbul, and attended St. Georg's Austrian Catholic College learning German. She was very disciplined and strict, yet open minded, swam every summer, was very competitive, and weaved table cloths that could cover tables for 20, cooked amazing food, believed in God, prayed five times a day, and fasted during Ramadan up until the age of 95, but never wore a headscarf and always supported the secular Republic of Turkey.
My grandmother passed away in 2013 from intestinal cancer at the age of 95. I didn't have a chance to say goodbye as I was at Gamescom with Benoit, and Vova's brother, Vanya, trying to grow Paymentwall.

Tamara Fedorovna Butchenko was born in Kryukov (currently Kremenchuk), Ukrainian SSR. She was like a mom to Vova and Vanya after their mom passed away in a tragic accident.
She was a strong Soviet woman, and worked as a phthisiology doctor for 54 years until her 80s, treating people from tuberculosis. She loved her work and didn’t want to leave it until she wasn’t able to work. For the last 20 or so years, she was working in the clinic of KPI, treating students from all over Ukraine, and from different parts of the world coming to study in USSR and then to Ukraine.
As a student, she helped in the reconstruction of Hreshatyk after the WWII. She was very organized, disciplined, a patriot and loyal to the well being of the Ukrainian and Russian ideals.
Every Veterans’ Day, she visited the tombs of the fallen soldiers who defended the independence and future of the country, with Vova accompanying her. She went through 3 phases of cancer treatments and she never gave up, until 2013, when she fell to lung cancer, leaving behind a legacy and memories of how a person can love her country so much. Vova and Vanya spent the last days of her life with her, taking shifts between Paymentwall and the hospital.

A Tribute to Our Babushkas

We are sure you have your own memories of your grandmas that you will never forget. And yet, we forget about so many grandmas who are in short supply of food due to higher prices and dwindling Ukrainian pension fund — no longer at its past strength in the post-Soviet era.
Whether our grandmas are religious or agnostic, Crimean or Ukrainian or Russian, a housewife or a doctor, we remember them.
As the Ukrainian economy faces challenges due to the crisis in the Eastern Ukraine, our grandmothers and grandfathers who have fought hard to establish a country based on egalitarian principles and hard work find themselves facing starvation, poverty and sickness due to cold weather. In celebration of our 12th year of doing business together as two business partners and close friends, Vova and I have made it Paymentwall’s tradition for the past 3 years, as we have become more and more profitable, to donate food directly to those in need, whether in Turkey, Philippines or Ukraine, which are the countries that we do business in. We have helped victims of the Earthquake in Van in 2011, Binan Laguna flood victims in Philippines in 2012, donated to grandmas facing starvation in 2012, 2013, and 2014, and donated toys and clothes to orphans in Kiev in 2013. And each passing year, we have donated more and more as our company grew.

Just as Paymentwall is global and diverse, we see that people in need are also global and diverse. Poverty and need does not discriminate based on religion or nationality. You can find people in need everywhere, even in the most prosperous regions.

Until today, we have kept these donations private, shared only with our team members. But in 2015, we want to take this to the next level. The tech industry always talks about revolutionizing, disrupting and changing the world, yet, we often only see entrepreneurs and tech companies focused on making money, but we don't see enough tech companies making changes to the communities around them. So this year, Paymentwall opens up our Ukrainian Thanksgiving event with the participation of the Ukrainian Tech Community, too. The Ukrainian Tech Community can change Ukraine and can make people happy. Our grandmas in Ukraine are affected by the devaluation of the Grivnia the most, while the market has become more and more affordable by US-dollar paid Tech workers.

Together, let's support our grandmas who have helped this country overcome hardships the past century.

Sincerely,
Honor Gunday
CEO of Paymentwall Inc.

All donations collected, in addition to 10,000 USD worth of donations by Paymentwall, will be given to the veterans.

Volunteer

Donate money

Paymentwall will collect the funds. The money and the way it is spent will be made public. We will provide receipts for everything.

Organize a donation station at your company

Get a donation box from our office and start collecting donations in the form of food and clothes. Once you have collected donations, you can bring the box back to our office or bring it with you during the Thanksgiving event.

Volunteer your time and resources

We need people to come, join and donate the food and clothes with us.

The kickoff will start at Paymentwall’s Kiev office with a Thanksgiving donation event. To join the event, you will need to donate at least 25 USD. For people who donate more than 100 USD, we will also print Thanksgiving t-shirts and we will add their names on this page.
Contact donations@paymentwall.com to join our volunteer initiative.