Velykyi Khutir Territorial Community

History

The Velykyi Khutir territorial community was formed in the process of decentralization in 2018 and consisted of three village councils. In 2020, another village council joined the community. In this format, the community has operated to this day.

The village of Velykyi Khutir (Eng. – Big Hamlet) is located on the Zolotonoshka River in the forest-steppe zone. The first settlements on the territory of the modern village sprang up approximately in the second half of the 17th century during the colonization of Left-bank Ukraine. At that time, Ivan Myrovych, a representative of the Cossack officers, captured the Velykyi Khutir lands and Tsars Peter Oleksiiovych and Ivan Oleksiiovych granted them to him in 1691. The Myrovych family owned these lands until 1712. The village was named so because of its size as it included three hamlets and had a length of 12 km. 

 In the late 18th century, Myrovych built with own funds two wooden churches in the village: the St. Pelagia Church and the Saints Peter and Paul Church. In 1931, the St. Pelagia Church was destroyed and the Saints Peter and Paul Church was closed because of an extensive anti-religious campaign conducted on the territory of Velykyi Khutir. The latter was open only in 1942 and has been functioning since then.

The Saints Peter and Paul Church of Velykyi Khutir is valuable as a historical object and architectural monument of local significance. Currently, it is the oldest building on the village’s territory, which was built in 1895 or so, and founded even earlier – in 1775.

There is the Zaplavskyi hydrological reserve of local importance on the territory of the Velykyi Khutir village council. Located in sloughs of the Zolotonoshka River, it is 91.7 hectares in area.

This is a place for recreation and fishing, both in summer and in winter. In the sloughs of the river, there are many different fish: cyprinus, carassius, northern pike and misgurnus. The area of Ashanivka village is an especially attractive location for anglers, where the reservoir of the Palmyra sugar factory with wide river floodplains and sloughs was created.
There is a local history museum in Velykyi Khutir village, which was opened in 1987. The museum fund includes about 2,000 exhibits placed in 7 exhibition halls of the village’s House of Culture.

Economy and Welfare

There are agricultural enterprises, utility companies, trade and service businesses  in the community. However, the focus activity is agriculture and agro-industrial enterprises are the main major budget revenue generating enterprise

 budget-generating enterprises, which grow food and technical crops on an area of 13,000 hectares.

The economic activity on the territory of the united territorial community is carried out by 53 natural persons-entrepreneurs and small enterprises.

The focus of the community activity is the development of the processing industry, which will increase the employment of residents and the well-being of the community. The community has a convenient logistical location for the enterprises placement. 

The teaching staff and students of Velykyi Khutir village conduct research and experimental work “Greening of Educational Activities in the Conditions of Socially Active School”; for this work, the institution received a gold medal at the eleventh International Exhibition “Modern Educational Institutions 2020” in Kyiv.

Community and War

Military operations have never been conducted on the territory of the community, so it was not directly affected by the hostilities.  However, with the beginning of the war, a large number of community residents stood up to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.

In addition, since the beginning of a full-scale war, more than 400 internally displaced persons have found refuge on the territory of the community. To provide assistance to this population category, the community leadership actively cooperates with the Red Cross Society and international charitable organizations and is ready to expand the scope of this cooperation.

The local entrepreneurs helped with food products. Sixty-six food kits were made and distributed to internally displaced families.

Currently, the community needs charitable or grant financial assistance to provide housing for IDPs and create jobs for them.

Today, an important task for every resident is providing the soldiers, territorial defence fighters, and internally displaced persons from the war zone with food and necessities. In just two days, residents of Velykyi Khutir, Retsiukivshchyna and Rozhdestvenske villages processed chicken meat and made 1,530 cans at their homes and further sent them to the soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

On the eve of the Intercession of the Theotokos and the Day of Ukrainian Defenders, the residents of Velykyi Khutir village joined the charity campaign and collected food products for compatriot defenders, who fight in various areas of the Donetsk region. Medicine and other necessary items were also sent to the forefront in the Donetsk region. They were purchased and delivered by teachers and employees of the Retsiukivshchyna village school. Children and employees of the Velykyi Khutir rural library made trench candles and delivered them to the forefront in the Donetsk region.

Food products were also delivered to the Kupian district of the Kharkiv region and for the employees of the Kharkiv State Aviation Production Enterprise and the voluntary formation of the Territorial Defence of Kharkiv.

Humanitarian aid in the form of office supplies, sweets, and toys was delivered to the children from Kharkiv for the New Year holidays.

On 12 August 2022, the concert was held in Velykyi Khutir village as part of the charity tour. During the concert, 90,000 UAH was raised to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

      During the winter cold, the defenders need warm clothes more than ever. Understanding the importance of assisting Ukrainian soldiers who courageously defend the territorial integrity of the country, members of the executive committee of the Velykyi Khutir Village Council encouraged the residents of the community to join the Warm the Defender Campaign. Many residents of the community’s villages responded; the parcels with tea, coffee and warm socks were collected and delivered to the soldiers.

Since June, the residents of Bezborodky village have been making energy bars for the Armed Forces, weaving camouflage nets, making trench candles. They have made and delivered over two thousand meat cans.

A resident of Bezborodky village Olha Salo is engaged in volunteer activities and constantly buys medicines and sends parcels for defenders.
Also, there is a Point of Invincibility in the administrative building of the Velykyi Khutir Village Council, which offers electricity, heating, first aid medicines, food, drinking water, warm clothing, beds and blankets.

People of the Community

Nadiia Hrytsachenko (born in 1988) held the position of Secretary of the Velykyi Khutir Village Council and the Executive Committee from 2018 and then was elected as Community Head in August 2022. 

Since the first days of her tenure, she has joined the volunteer movement of the community’s villages. She cooperates closely with international charitable foundations, public organizations, enterprises and individuals.

Together with the employees of the Velykyi Khutir Village Council, she tries to ensure uninterrupted functioning of social institutions, trade and health care institutions, which operate in the territory of the Velykyi Khutir rural territorial community.

During a short period of her office, she was repeatedly honoured with regional and district awards for her active public position, conscientious work and high professionalism.

The head of the community pays great attention to the development of education, preservation and development of folk traditions and culture. That is why there are 11 cultural institutions in the community.

 In 1988, bandurist Mykhailo Koval, who is well known in Ukraine and abroad, united the community’s lovers of Ukrainian folk songs into a friendly amateur folklore group.

Development Strategy

The general development strategy of the community was developed for the period 2021-2028.

To reach the desired development goals based on competitive advantages of communities, two lines (strategic goals) of community development were defined: increasing the community’s economic capacity and providing comfortable living conditions for community residents.

Among the priority areas, the following activities and tasks are planned : 

–          Supporting farmers, non-traditional types of business, crafts, and public initiatives to develop enterprising behaviours;

–          Developing urban planning documentation of the community’s population centres; 

–          Providing high-speed Internet in the community’s population centres;

–          Improving the availability and quality of administrative services;

–          Installing energy-efficient lighting in all the community’s population centres;

–          Implementing energy-efficient technologies and energy management of institutions;

–   Supporting energy-efficient projects and using renewable energy sources;

–          Improving the road infrastructure;

–          Developing cultural offer on the territory of the community, supporting the spiritual development of community residents;

–          Promoting the creation of public organizations and public self-organization bodies and stimulating their activities;

–                        Installing a video surveillance system on the territory.

The territory of the community has prospects of attracting both domestic and foreign investments, in particular, in agro-industrial production: animal husbandry, poultry farming, deep processing of agricultural products, horticulture, cultivation of environmentally friendly products and niche crops. 

The community leadership is open to cooperation with charitable foundations and international organizations, which are interested in the sustainable development of rural areas, solving environmental and social problems, and implementing grant projects.

List of Sources

• Website of the community      
• Facebook page
• www.facebook.com