Sergey Kostin is a geologist by training. Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he committed himself to assisting the most disadvantaged people of Ukraine. To garner support for his projects, Sergii set up a series of small workshops to teach carpentry, sewing and icon painting. As a result of this work he has rescued many of the exponentially growing numbers of homeless people, prostitutes, street children, and drug addicts that roamed the Odessa streets. Sergii began the Way Home by first offering a series of workshops, seeking to build the skill base of those who had fallen on hard times. Sergii was nominated European Hero of the Year by TIME magazine in 2003, and was a Chrystal of Hope awardee in Vienna’s Life Ball in 2010.