An email from former Ukraine Adoption Blogger, Angela highlights the ongoing needs of the children in that country, and a fundraising project in the works now.

The 85 boys of the Teterevka orphanage, almost all ill and disabled, are in urgent need of food, shoes, and more, and An Orphan's Bright Star is asking for donations.

From the charity:

Teretevka is home to 85 special needs boys aged 7 to 25 yrs. 60% of these boys are ill, and a large percentage are invalids. They have so many... more

Friday I listed charities that help Ukrainian orphans. I briefly discussed some of my volunteer work. Today I want to list specific activities that you can do.

All of the charities will accept cash. But there are some creative ways to turn every day activities into a donation. ... more

Before you send money or volunteer your time, I suggest investigating the charity. For the American charities read their GuideStar listing. There is also a GuideStar for the UK charities.

You may want to ask about the charity on the Ukrainian adoption email lists. And if the charity has... more

There are many ways to help children who remain in Ukrainian orphanages and live on the streets. There are many different charities that you can funnel money and volunteer hours into.

The photo to the left is my first picture of my daughter Natasha. I adopted her from Green Forest Orphanage in 2000. She was in a 1970s crib. Yes, the crib is almost 40 years old. The wire bars hurt (my daughter has some strong memories of hurting her head on them) and as an added bonus they are potentially covered lead paint.

I... more

I have been searching through various videos about Ukraine. Here are some of the interesting ones.

CrossRoads Foundation provides humanitarian aid services for homeless children in Ukraine. They are an American charity. It looks like they mainly work with children in Kyiv.

Street Children in Kiev, Ukraine - CrossRoads - Part 1 Street Children in Kiev, Ukraine - CrossRoads - Part 2

This video created by Peace Corps Volunteers... more

Sasha is an 13 year old boy who was adopted from Ukraine by Americans. The child was diagnosed with RAD. And the family tried an alternative placement before they put him into a Ukraine Psychiatric Hospital. US child welfare workers arranged for Sasha to return to the United States in December 2006. There were some additional stories.

So the update... Washington... more

I found an interesting charity. The United Orphaned Children's Fund of Pennsylvania (UOCFP) was founded in 2002.

Steve Vetterlein founded UOCFP because:

In the spring of ’99, I was watching a TV show about this humanitarian organization up in Canada called "Help Us Help The Children" (HUHTC). It was a whole hour long, and the scenes from that program haunted me for many months afterwards.

From: History... more

For anyone looking for Ukrainian Christmas items... This blog is for you.

There is a new charity called Orphan's Bright Star. They are working with 5 Ukrainian orphanages;

Chinadievo children's home Dnepropetrovsk baby orphanage Kremenchuk baby orphanage Svalyava baby orphanage Zhitomir baby orphanage Zhitomir internat

Right now they are... more

Occasionally I blog about my involvement with Life2Orphans' charity. I volunteer to coordinate and fund raise for my daughter's orphanage.

I last talked about Life2Orphan's Christmas project last month. Because of the shipping time (about 8 weeks to get items delivered from the United States to Ukraine), Life2Orphans needs to get their project finished... more

I know this is slightly old, but I really like the story about the dentists who travel to Ukrainian orphanages. As I wrote a while back dental health for many orphans is very poor. For some children their dental issues become very traumatic.... more