This Child Here

We fund programs designed to teach peacemaking techniques to teens, to provide emotional support to families displaced by the war, and to train foster families who receive children from orphanages. We fund programs designed to help children move from street life to life in shelters, homes or orphanages, and to help,encourage, and motivate children in those facilities to imagine a future and pur

sue it. Over the years what we do has changed. In the early years, I searched for kids on the streets, buried those who died, sat with them below the streets. Drug overdose, AIDS, TB, and other communicable diseases are the killers. Perhaps our most important program new is helping children with personal boundaries, addictions, self-esteem and trust. We Ukraine. We also work with a local charity, The Way Home in Odessa. We fund education. We make available a variety of activities for children that include computer classes, music lessons, dance and trips to the theater. We are funding tuition and books for University for one student. (after school activities) We also fund dental care. For several years we bought clothes, food, medicine, jackets, shoes and paid for medical care for street kids, but now that cost is picked up primarily by staff of our partner organization,
The Way Home. We fund “at risk” groups in local public schools work in public schools and give financial support and teach parenting skills to our first family project, a mother with three children. In 2014 we will work to train foster families who are now encouraged to adopt children in Ukraine, and recruit, train and support mentors to be matched with children in orphanages and shelters.do this with a teams going into orphanages in the oblast or state of Odessa,
Finally, Ukrainians do the work in Ukraine. I am proud of the staff people we have recruited and the skills they bring.