About us
We, Alice and Sonya, have met in Lebanon where we both volunteered with Syrian refugees for several months. During that time we developed long lasting friendship and strengthened our interest in helping those in need.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the question of needs was raised as a lot of people in Ukraine lost their jobs and so their means to pay rent and afford basic commodities. This gave birth to a small project, consisting of little actions which provided people with food, hygiene packs and some other essentials, which quickly developed into something more long-term and more meaningful: we are now supporting creative private initiatives with initial funding, so that businesses and activities can be started. All of these initiatives have the following in common:
- they are the owner’s idea, originating from a passion, interest or ability and the ambition of supporting themselves autonomously;
- they are feasible with a relatively small amount of money, and have high chances of succeeding in their environment;
- they are socially, environmentally and economically sustainable, and based on a thought-through concept;
- they have a high potential for positively impacting the community around the person of interest.
We believe that our mix of competences (see below) can help everyone involved in the TinyRivers project achieve great results. All people deserve independence and dignity, and the chance to stand on their own feet. And those who support from afar deserve to be sure that their contribution is being used in the most effective and impactful way. This is why our concept is based on direct personal relationships. We know each person we support for some time before they get involved in a project, and we agree to fund their ideas because we have great confidence in their validity, creativity, and underlying good will.
To learn more about how we are organized, you are welcome to visit our FAQ section. Also, if you would like to join us as part of the team, please reach out to us! You can find contact info and form on our home page.
Alice Cellamare
Alice is a civil/evironmental engineer with experience in low-tech projects, personal initiatives and business. Her work with the NGO “Engineers without Borders Germany” (“Ingenieure ohne Grenzen e.V.”) taught her the meaning of providing people with real opportunities and how this can be achieved. Being her competence field focused on the environment, she always holds an eye out for the most sustainable and Earth-friendly options.
She really can’t hold a decent face while taking pictures.
Sofia (Sonya) Kordonets
Sonya is a human rights lawyers working as in a charitable foundation with stateless population – these are undocumented people, invisible for the society and the government. In the context of her work, Sonya visits lots of villages where underprivileged people and families live. She has a wide network of contacts and good experience in case-management.
Sonya traveled half the world already and is still looking forward to the other half.