Rebuilding Ukraine Through LEGO

Today’s guest article comes from Maciej Kocot, an AFOL from Poland, an active MOC builder, and microscale master. You can find him online on Flickr and Instagram.

Charity and the LEGO Community

The AFOL community and acts of charity seem to go hand in hand. From the inclusion of Make-A-Wish kids at events and unnaturally fierce charity auctions at conventions to the annual Creations for Charity fundraiser selling MOCs to buy LEGO for children, there are plenty of examples of generous folks for charitable causes. Today, we’ll take a look at a particular group’s new cause: Ukraine.

Brickmania Benfifet for Ukraine

It’s been more than two years since the war visited upon Ukraine. The events taking place there are truly heartbreaking. BrickNerd wrote about the LEGO community in Ukraine, which I hope will recover soon. When I hear news from Ukraine, I often feel helpless. There is not much that one person can do apart from volunteering and donating money to a good cause occasionally.  

Within the LEGO community, two groups have already stepped up with fundraising efforts: Brickmania, well-known for custom military vehicles, was one of the first to create a series of Ukraine accessories and model kits, with all proceeds going towards various Ukraine charities. They have raised nearly $375K USD and continue offering several Ukrainian options.

The other company, Citizen Brick, released a limited edition custom Volodymyr Zelenskyy minifig and Molotov cocktails, which sold out entirely and raised almost $145K USD.

Now a third group is getting involved through LEGO. UNITED24 is the official fundraising platform of Ukraine, launched by the president, Zelenskyy. They gather funds through a wide variety of campaigns—and last year, they introduced one that was related to bricks. By donating, you would be entered into a raffle to win a brick-built model depicting one of Ukraine’s monuments. All proceeds went towards rebuilding destroyed apartment buildings in Kyiv Oblast. Last year’s campaign was a success, raising 15 million UAH ($370K USD). This year, the campaign was relaunched with a new wave of models. 

You can see all of last year’s models on UNITED24’s site.

The Mother Ukraine statue by MAKSYM MITYAKIN

United to Build

I first heard about UNITED24 from a fellow member of my local LUG, Zbudujmy To! (which means “Let us build it!” in Polish). They were starting the preparations for the second wave of the fundraising campaign, raffling off LEGO-built Ukrainian landmarks and looking for some new builders and models for the raffle. The project resonated with me quite a bit since the very beginning, and microscale architecture is my favorite theme when building my own creations. This was a great opportunity to use my hobby in the best possible way—to help those in need. 

When I contacted the UNITED24 team, their response was incredibly enthusiastic. Not much later, I had an introductory call with a person from UNITED24 who already knew a lot about the AFOL community from the first phase of the project, but she was still curious to learn more. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to build at first, but I soon got some great recommendations. With microscale architecture MOCs, it’s sometimes tricky to pick the right subject—it needs to be easily recognizable but also look interesting and be possible to build with existing parts.

Ultimately, we decided I would build part of the Khan Palace in Bakhchysarai. It was the home of the Crimean Khanate rulers. Thanks to its Muslim roots, the building has some outstanding features, like minarets with crescent moon tops (something you don’t often see in this part of Europe). It perfectly shows the multicultural face of Ukraine but also serves as a reminder of what happened in Crimea nine years ago.

I quickly started building, first using real bricks and then digital ones. It was a greatly satisfying and a bit challenging build. As I sent the completed files to the UNITED24 team, I thought my role in the project was over. As it turned out, that was not the case at all! 

The model was sent to the Crimean Tatar community for feedback. This resulted in a few modifications to make meaningful details more prominent in the build, such as the crescent moon tops. I had done some commissioned models in the past but never received such valuable and detailed feedback as I did. This showed how much the UNITED24 team cared about the quality of the models.

Working with the UNITED24 team has strengthened my faith in the Ukrainian nation even more. Their positive and professional attitude is a glimmer of hope in these difficult times. 

“The Khan Palace is a perfect example of Ukraine's diversity. I am very happy to show the world this part of Crimean culture and contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine.” — Maciej Kocot, Poland.

The completed model really shines, and you have a chance at owning it!

Owning a Piece of History

There’s still time to donate towards Ukraine’s rebuilding efforts and maybe win one of these five amazing builds. The raffle is available until the end of July 2024.

Here are the four other LEGO MOCs that are available, along with some thoughts from each of their builders:

“I aim to contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine, promoting its culture and helping to rebuild it, through the universal language of LEGO.” — Daniel Seidl, Germany.

“During the four years of the MiniMisto project, we created over two hundred models of architectural monuments of Ukraine. Half of them are buildings damaged by Russian shelling. Thanks to UNITED24, I have an opportunity to introduce you to one of them.” — Alexander Yermolaev, Ukraine.

“I was truly humbled to design the Golden Gate set. I really enjoyed the challenge of combining a stone-based castle with a wooden structure.” — Eric Law, USA.

“I was deeply honored to be approached by UNITED24. I chose Pidhirtsi Castle as the perfect blend of Ukrainian history and my passion for building castles with LEGO.” — Mark Segedie, USA.

You can purchase entries for the UNITED24 raffle until the end of July when the models will travel to a new home while helping rebuild people’s homes in Ukraine.

Which model would you most like to win from the charity raffle? Let us know in the comments below!

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