Here is the SDA's web site. Unfortunately they don't have an English version yet. It is in Ukrainian. But email friend has translated part of the information.

Director: Volinets Ludmila Semenivna

First Vice Director: Balym Ludmila Volodymyrivna

Vice Director: Hrischenko Fedir Volodymyrovych

Vice Director: Savchuk Inna Victorivna.

Address: Desiatynna Street #14, Kyiv 01025

Fax: 278-37-54

The rumor part... Staff are working in the... more

First the old rumor.. The SDA was suppose to open to adoptive families today. It didn't. No one is surprised. Staff is working at the SDA building. I have hopes that it will open to adoptive parents in July. (sigh...........)

I wrote about becoming a volunteer coordinator for my daughter's Ukrainian orphanage 2.5 weeks ago. I am working with the Life2Orphans charity, which is based in the United States.

I just realized that I didn't share my stories... more

I really appreciate Scottish football fans now. :) They can do amazing things. Stevie Carr and Mark Strachan have created a new Scottish charity called The Dnipro Appeal.

Stevie has a series of emails that explains how this charity came to be.

Here are some news article on the charity.

22 Nov 2005

FANS who raised thousands of pounds for an orphanage in the Ukraine are to set up their own charity to ensure long-term support for the children.

The idea of helping the orphanage, on the outskirts of the city of Dnipropetrovsk, came from... more

Picture: Green Forest Orphanage: Main Building

Since I last wrote about Life2Orphans, I have become a volunteer coordinator for my daughter's orphanage. It is known as Green Forest Orphanage or Zeleny Gai or Zeleny Guy or Zeleniy Gay.

I really had to think about this...

Did I have the energy to put into this? Was the organization trust worthy? Would working with the organization allow me to help orphan's lives? In other words would my efforts... more

WRISTBANDS...........

The Disabled & Vulnerable Orphans of Ukraine (DVOU) is a non-profit foundation that was founded around 2000.

Lillian Horodysky (Founder and Executive Director) is a first generation American. And she has very strong ties to Ukraine.

Her parents are from Ukraine. She speaks fluent Ukrainian. She is connected to families who adopted from Ukraine. And she lived and worked in Kyiv. I know her only through email, but she is a very pleasant person.

She became aware of the circumstances faced... more

Part 1 is found here.

Ukraine is the same as the United States. When you have no job skills, finding a job and supporting yourself is difficult to impossible. So many teenagers turn to prostitution and crime to feed themselves. They are adults at 16 years of age with few options or support system.

My brief relationship with Luda is why I sponsor a young man named Andrey Tokarchuk for $40 per month... more

As I mentioned in my Kharkiv Air Pollution blog, I met my daughter, Natasha, in a hospital room that she shared with 4 other orphans. They were from 4 different orphanages. I visited Natasha and her roommates at the hospital for about 7 days. *

Luda was the oldest in the room at 16 years of age. Here is her picture. She was beautiful inside and outside. She mothered the 12 year old, 10 year old, 8 year old and 3 year old children in the hospital room.

For example, she always made sure... more

Massage first then statistics.

I have known Karmelle Chaise since 2002 (mainly via email). I am so please for her that this got off the ground.

Published: 6 March 2006

Five years ago on a humanitarian mission to Ukraine, Karmelle Chaise saw something she still can't get out of her aid worker's mind or her mother's heart: a lone child in a squalid orphanage silently rocking back and forth like a metronome.

.............

Several weeks later, Chaise returned to the former Soviet state with her husband, Keith, and adopted... more

The Life2Orphans is a good organization to work with if you are looking to ship boxes/letters to a specific orphanage or if you want to help Ukrainian orphanages. They have many different projects going on at the same time. Here is a link to my blog on their "Project Empty Orphanage".

The Vice-President of the organization is Lynn Kolber. She recently visited the Mykolaivka Internat and came back with 4 Hand carved and Handcrafted wooden items. They are beautiful and they are being sold to the highest bidder.... more

The Life2Orphans non-profit (501 c) organization was started by a couple of families who adopted from Ukraine. The group has an international flavor with adoptive families from Israel, Spain, Germany, Canada, etc... involved. If you are looking to help a child, this is a good organization to do it with.

When visiting the web site (www.life2orphans.org) make sure to use Internet Explorer as your browser. Firefox doesn't work well with the web site.

Last time I discussed this with Megan Fordenbacher (she is one of the orginal founding families) there is only one employee who is based in Ukraine. Everyone else is a volunteer.

The... more