Help us create the Toivo “Hope” Conservation Project on Lake Päijänne

A place for mental wellbeing and healing through nature — in the heart of Finland’s Lake District, one of Europe’s important freshwater ecosystems, and a region facing growing pressure from extractive industries.

Island of Hope is a story about: 

• a young woman searching for meaning.
• a forgotten family story.
• a remote island.
• a valuable natural and cultural heritage that deserves to be preserved for future generations.

We are raising funds to create a lasting conservation and wellbeing project in the Lake Päijänne region of Finland — inspired by the documentary film Island of Hope, the real-life journey of the legendary Päijänne hermit Toivo “The Hope” Pylväläinen, and the film’s protagonist Nadja.

Your donation will help us identify, acquire, restore, or protect a unique natural or cultural site while creating an opportunity for wellbeing, recovery, and connection with nature.

We are currently developing the project and exploring suitable locations and ways to bring the vision to life. A feasibility study is underway to determine the most meaningful and sustainable way to protect and develop the chosen site.

Why This Matters

Across the world, young people are struggling with anxiety, overstimulation, overwhelming social and family expectations, and a growing disconnection from nature. Island of Hope is a documentary about the search for another way to live.

The film follows Nadja, a highly sensitive young woman caught up in Helsinki’s underground party scene, as she flees her personal troubles and the pressures of modern city life, retreating to a remote island in Finland’s vast lake wilderness.

There she encounters the legacy of Toivo Pylväläinen — a mysterious inventor and hermit who lived alone on an isolated island for more than 40 years. What begins as a personal escape becomes a journey into intergenerational memory, mental healing, and the restorative power of nature.

Filmed over six years, Island of Hope explores youth mental wellbeing, social exclusion, resilience, and humanity’s fragile relationship with the natural world.

From Documentary Into Real-World Impact

This campaign is more than supporting a film.

We want to transform the story of Island of Hope into lasting environmental and social impact by creating a place in honour of Toivo “The Hope” Pylväläinen and young people seeking hope and a different path — a place where people can reconnect with nature, silence, wilderness, and themselves.

The project is currently taking shape, with the aim of finding a meaningful and sustainable way to turn the vision of into reality. A feasibility study is underway to explore suitable locations and possibilities in the Lake Päijänne region — from protecting valuable natural areas and preserving cultural heritage to restoring an existing site or creating a place where nature, wellbeing, and education can come together.

The final direction will be guided by the ecological and cultural value of the chosen site, its accessibility, and its potential to create lasting benefits for both nature and people.

The project aims to:

1. protect valuable forest and freshwater ecosystems in the Lake Päijänne region
2. preserve the cultural legacy connected to Toivo’s life
3. keep the site or place freely accessible to visitors, where possible
4. support mental wellbeing through connection with nature
5. create opportunities for youth groups, wellbeing retreats, education, and other nature-based activities

The Island and the Potential Conservation Site

Our goal is to identify and help protect a unique natural or cultural site in the wider Koreakoivu Island and Lake Päijänne region, inspired by the landscape that Toivo called home for most of his life.

Koreakoivu is a small island in Lake Päijänne, where Toivo lived alone as a hermit for more than 40 years. On this island, located next to some of the best fishing waters in Finland, Toivo also developed a prototype of the famous wobbler that would later revolutionise the fishing world.

Located in the open waters of Lake Päijänne, Koreakoivu is known for its ancient pine forests, moss-covered landscapes, Ice Age-shaped rock formations, profound silence, and mythical atmosphere.

The island is also home to Toivo’s trusted companion — an ancient boulder formation resembling a horse with a large eye. You might even catch a glimpse of a maahinen — a small Finnish earth spirit — peeking from behind the moss-covered rocks.

Toivo’s original log cabin still stands on the island and has already been restored by local volunteers. The island has become legendary among boaters, hikers, and local storytellers.

The island and the surrounding areas of the Päijänne region are not only ecologically valuable but also carry a unique cultural and emotional history connected to survival, solitude, and living close to nature.

Why Lake Päijänne?

• Lake Päijänne is one of Finland’s most important freshwater ecosystems and the second-largest lake in Finland. Its waters provide drinking water for approximately 1–1.5 million people, including much of the Finnish capital region.
• The region is facing growing interest from the extractive industries, including exploration for minerals such as nickel, copper, and other critical raw materials increasingly needed for battery production.
• The area contains valuable biodiversity, old forests, clean waterways, and some of the most iconic landscapes in the Nordic region.
• Protecting Päijänne means protecting both nature and human wellbeing.

About the Film

Island of Hope (95 min) is a creative coming of age documentary filmed over six years. At its center is Nadja, a highly sensitive young woman balancing on the edge of exhaustion and social exclusion while trying to find meaning in a world where it is difficult for her to feel at ease.

Through her journey into the Finnish wilderness and her unexpected connection to Toivo — her great-great-uncle, once believed dead — the film becomes a story about healing, belonging, the legacies we inherit across generations, and the human need for nature.

The documentary combines intimate observation, cinematic and poetic storytelling, and the mystical atmosphere of Finland’s lake wilderness.

How Your Donation Helps

Your contribution will directly support the development and implementation of the Toivo “Hope” Conservation Project, including:

1. identifying and assessing potential sites
2. land or place acquisition where appropriate
3. protection of forest, shoreline, and freshwater ecosystems
4. preservation or restoration of cultural heritage connected to Toivo
5. development of accessible nature and wellbeing activities
6. long-term conservation and maintenance of the chosen site

Every donation helps protect a real place and/or piece of land.

Campaign Timeline

The fundraising campaign runs until the funding goal has been reached. The goal is to establish the conservation area during summer 2027.

Project Initiators

The campaign was initiated by PinkAgency Productions, the production company behind Island of Hope, together with the Foundation for Better Nature (PLUPS), a Finnish conservation organization established in 2008.

The Foundation for Better Nature manages the fundraising campaign and the conservation process under an official Finnish fundraising permit. The Foundation has already protected several other ecologically significant areas in the Lake Päijänne region.

Help Us Protect the Island of Hope

By supporting this campaign, you are helping to:

1. preserve fragile northern nature
2. support youth mental wellbeing
3. protect cultural history
4. create a place for silence, reflection, and recovery
5. turn a documentary story into lasting real-world impact

In a world growing louder and faster, places like this matter more than ever.

Please donate and share the campaign.