Biography

He joined Plast in 1997. He belonged to the Pavlo Polubotok Youth Troop No. 15 in Lviv, and later to the St. Nicholas Black Sea Troop No. 25 of the Ukrainian Scouting Association.

Participant and later commander of dozens of regional camps and training sessions. Commander of the Maritime Section at Jamboree 2009 and YMPA 2012. Long-time active instructor in all areas of practical scouting. One of the main instructors of sea scouting, in particular in sailing, water travel, pioneering, cartography, and self-reliance.

Taras Havrylyshyn volunteered during the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation. He defended Ukraine as part of the 45th Separate Artillery Brigade. He died on November 1, 2022, during the liberation of the Kherson region from Russian occupiers during an artillery attack.

He was awarded the Distinction of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Plast Distinction «Iron Cross» (posthumously).

A year after his death, his friends fulfilled Taras' dream — they opened a tourist shelter on Mount Parashka in the Skolivski Beskydy National Nature Park so that every traveler would have a place to rest or spend the night.

«The shelter on Mount Parashka was Taras Gavrylyshyn's last wish, and we couldn't help but do what he wanted so much,» said Plast member Yulia Hvozdovych, who was actively involved in the idea of creating the shelter, during the opening on November 25, 2023.