By the end of this year, 20,000 rescue thermal blankets will be sent to little and adult Ukrainians from the largest system integrator of Ukraine – IT-Integrator LLC, with the support of the Charitable organization “Educational Initiatives Foundation” within the framework of the “Knowledge Saving Life” project.
Doing good deeds – not “for a tick”, but providing real help to those who need it most now – is the main principle of IT business in Ukraine today, which from the first days of the war not only continues to work actively and fill the budget of Ukraine with taxes, but has also been involved in volunteer projects and direct technological assistance to the front.
One of such companies that “not in word, but in deed” on a volunteer basis supports our combat units, the State Emergency Service, internally displaced persons and refugees abroad, is IT-Integrator and its Vice president Nadiia Omelchenko. The contribution of the company and its management in helping the frontline, especially in the Military Tech direction, is marked by many state distinctions, but today the company has also invested heavily in a national programme to help every Ukrainian.
“Today we launched our first nationwide information campaign “Knowledge Saving Life,” says Nadiia Omelchenko. We are not doing this because we want to replace the function of the state or a humanitarian fund, but to give each of the 40 million Ukrainians the protection that we all really need in this predictable difficult and cold winter, especially given the growing number of attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
The purpose of our project is to explain in simple terms the principles that we, “technicians”, really understand. For example, these are the principles of physics, heat engineering, which today, without exaggeration, can save most of the children and adults from hypothermia and colds, who stay long and almost motionless in unheated shelters and storages during air alerts”.
The Knowledge Saving Life project is truly unique. Back in August, the company IT-Integrator contracted and started manufacturing a large number of rescue thermal blankets for children and universal sizes. The production involves polymeric materials of Ukrainian and European production that meet the technical requirements of Ukraine for use in the medical, pharmaceutical, food industry and everyday life. Volunteer workers of the company work on thermal blankets production when they have free time from the main work.
Large batches of children’s rescue thermal blankets will be donated free of charge as charitable assistance from the Charitable organization “Educational Initiatives Foundation” and from October 25 they are already being sent with volunteers of the foundation to be transferred to parents with children under 10 years old, primarily in the de-occupied territories of Ukraine.
Other batches of free products in children’s and universal sizes will be sent by the Foundation to educational hubs, STEM centers and teacher training institutes – to training teaching staff and students the basic principles of keeping warm in emergency conditions and completing “emergency suitcases” for children and adults to protect against hypothermia while in shelters and storage during air alerts this winter.
“Why does a rescue thermal blanket “warm up”? This technology, developed by NASA over seventy years ago, is better known then as the “space blanket” and today as isophilia or rescue blanket, widely used by athletes, tourists, motorists, but mainly by disaster medical teams to shelter victims during transportation to medical institution – has really saved more than one hundred thousand lives.
Our STEM kids know this basic principle of applying the laws of physics to very practical everyday things. And our task as a partner in the Knowledge Saving Life project from IT-Integrator is to tell and show on the example of such simple, light and understandable things as a thermal blanket weighing only 30 grams – how the basic laws of physics can save you from very unpleasant consequences in extreme situations this winter, or while traveling or even on vacation after the Victory,” Anton Dziuba, Chairman of the Board of the Educational Initiatives Foundation, and Alla Maramon, Director of the Foundation’s charitable programs, say.
The office of IT-Integrator is also cool this autumn. The company responsibly follows the recommendations of power engineers on the economical use of electricity and does not turn on heating or additional heating systems in all of its production and office premises.
Despite this, there is a fighting spirit in the team, and most of the employees brilliantly perform their duties now also in the literal sense. Thermal blankets really save the warmth and mood of the IT-Integrator team in these difficult times.
“When we were just starting the project and handing out thermal blankets to our colleagues for testing, at first it was a little unusual,” says Olena Maslii-Shyshova, Head of the HR Department at IT Integrator and project volunteer. But the rustling of the film, which is the basis of the thermal blanket, very quickly became invisible to each of us, and the warmth and comfort that you feel as soon as you throw the thermal blanket over your shoulders can be compared with a blanket or a down jacket. Such a small trifle as this blanket has now become an indispensable attribute of the workplace of each of our employees. Having tried it on themselves, colleagues are actively involved in production, give it to their customers, put it in emergency backpacks for children at school and institute. I also put a few of these blankets in my car first aid kit.
This is very convenient – and all of us, the heads of various departments of IT-Integrator, are involved as volunteers of the Knowledge Saving Life project to tell and show the possibilities of a life-saving blanket for as many of our clients, partners, Ukrainians as possible. Our thermal blankets, made within the framework of the project, are given to everyone who really needs them, free of charge. But this is not a unique product, and you can easily purchase it online or in a store for very little money. So, the main thing in this project is to know. And we are spreading this knowledge, because it is really knowledge that one day will save, perhaps, your life.”
The project “Knowledge Saving Life”, launched by IT-Integrator, will last until December 31, 2022. During this time, everyone can learn more about the use and principles of the rescue thermal blanket, order a free batch of children’s or universal (standard size) thermal blankets for their team, educational institution or community, make a donation for the production of 10, 100 or 1000 thermal blankets to the account of the Charitable organization “Educational Initiatives Foundation” or support the project by talking about it on your own media resource or social network page.