For the third consecutive year, Future for Ukraine’s School Nostalgia initiative marked the start of the school year by bringing together cafés, restaurants and bakeries to support children on the autism spectrum who need specialist therapy and help developing social skills. Dedicated partners support us in this work. This year’s participants included Milk Bar, Bakehouse Goodwine, Cheesecake Family, Remi, RoseMary Bakery, Vasylevi Pyrohy, SLOU COFFEE, Soul Cafe and Zolota Forel, alongside music artist OTOY and influencer Yuliia Norets. More than 30 media outlets, including The Village, Cosmopolitan and NV, covered the initiative, helping raise public awareness of the needs of children with autism.
Throughout September, participating venues added charity dishes to their menus that brought back memories of school days: familiar favourites such as sausages in pastry, sweet cheese buns, Napoleon cake, chocolate “potato” cakes and mashed potatoes with a meat patty. The proceeds went towards the development of LEVCHYK SPECTRUM HUB, where children on the autism spectrum receive the therapy they need, while their parents receive support and access to high-quality professional care for their children, free of charge.
More than 1,500 dishes with a taste of childhood helped turn fond memories into tangible support. Together, the venues raised UAH 132,572 to fund therapy sessions for children at the hub.
Why does this matter?
Children on the autism spectrum need regular sessions with specialists to support their development alongside their peers. LEVCHYK SPECTRUM HUB offers a comprehensive range of therapies that help children develop speech and communication skills, learn to understand and express their emotions, reduce stress, and prepare for school and interactions with other children.
Eleven-year-old Mykhailyk’s family was displaced from Kramatorsk. He was diagnosed with autism at the age of three. At six, after the full-scale invasion began and his family moved to Lviv, he started attending LEVCHYK. Working with specialists has helped Mykhailyk learn to express his thoughts and emotions and communicate what he needs. This makes a real difference to his interactions both at home and with his classmates. For his mother, Anna, seeing him in fourth grade and doing well at school is a significant achievement and a source of great pride.
Five-year-old Maksym from Mykolaiv has also made progress during his five months at LEVCHYK SPECTRUM HUB. He responds to his name, listens when someone speaks to him and can ask his parents for what he needs.
“Maksym couldn’t ask for things. He would simply take us by the hand and show us what he wanted. Now he can make a simple request. It’s all thanks to the sessions and the support of his teachers,” says his mother, Yuliia Bakun.
Since opening, the hubs in Lviv and Mykolaiv have provided more than 20,000 sessions in ABA therapy, sensory integration, speech therapy and art therapy.
This support is vital for displaced families and families in the frontline city of Mykolaiv who are raising children with autism. The war has made it harder to access the regular specialist care their children need. At LEVCHYK, children receive professional support free of charge, in a safe environment designed to nurture their development and meet each child’s individual needs.
Thank you to our partners, the media and everyone who supported School Nostalgia 2026. Your involvement, coverage and stories about the initiative help bring people together around a shared goal: supporting families raising children with autism by making regular specialist care accessible.
