OREANDA-NEWS. February 19, 2010. On the eve of the International Childhood Cancer Day, VAB Bank participated in the project targeted to collect funds necessary to procure a camera adapter for an Axiostar plus microscope operated at Kiev Oblast Cancer Dispensary’s childhood cancer unit, reported the press-centre of VAB Bank.

Other participants in the project, initiated by the Gift of Hope International Charity Foundation, included JV Express Service and BadKittysDad web design studio and computer game developer, as well as a number of private individuals.  The Axiostar plus microscope had been purchased by the Bank previously and donated to the Dispensary as part of 2009 charity programme.

“The camera adapter will make the diagnostic process significantly swifter allowing to timely choose adequate treatment schemes for cancer affected children.  We will be able to run efficiently real-time conferences with leading specialists from various medical establishments and will create an archive to track treatment dynamics and to provide training for physicians and paramedics.  Remote automated control via Internet will be another advantage.  Most importantly, we now have an opportunity to save time, being one of the critical factors in combating the disease,” Mr Evgueny Rybakov, director of Gift of Hope ICF, commented.

Within the project’s framework, VAB Bank launched a web store at its internal Internet portal where paintings and other works by children suffering from cancer were offered for sale.  The activity of the web store was supported by all our employees.  As the result, all of the 55 lots were gone – 98% during the first day of the auction.  Some of the paintings will be further displayed at a travelling exposition planning to visit all VAB Bank’s major regional offices.  Most of the funds raised – covering a half of the camera adapter value – will be provided to the Foundation who will arrange the procurement.  The balance will be used to buy playroom furniture and medicines for childhood cancer unit of Kiev Oblast Cancer Dispensary.

 “Support of cancer affected children is a mission the company has undertaken in appreciation of the profound and particular responsibility borne by everyone of us – especially now that the reality is tighter and the world less responsive.  This responsibility is hard to measure; it is beyond any seasonal patterns or any predetermined schedules.  However, responsibility of this sort is able to suddenly turn one’s inner world and priorities upside down and show the true value of everything one does,”  says VAB Chairman Petr Baron.  “Probably everyone of VAB Bank employees who saw grateful smiles on children’s faces would support me.  For what little patients really seek from those around is face-to-face contact and sincere hope that the disease will surrender and that the world will surely improve – no less sincere than that of their own.”

Support of cancer affected children has been a priority of VAB Bank’s charity policy for an extended period of time.  As part of this strategy, Bank employees provide continued financial support to childhood cancer clinics across Ukraine (the funds are used to buy medicines, toys, furniture, and medical equipment), run art therapy classes, and participate in varied events organised for children suffering from cancer by volunteers and partners upholding the Bank’s charity initiatives.