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 of the UOCFP

Now I happen to know about HUHTC because of my volunteer work with Life2Orphans. HUHTC is a Canadian charity....

I don't understand HUHTC's exact relationship. But I know it is associated with the Children of Chornobyl charity. And the HUHTC's office in Kyiv is actually a Ukrainian charity named Charitable Fund Tovarystvo Pryjateli Ditej.

Confused yet? Many of the Ukrainian children charities interact/work with each other. And sometimes it is confusing. I should try to diagram the interactions.

Anyway, Life2Orphans searches for sponsors for the HUHTC Scholarship Program.

The HUHTC scholarship program is aimed at helping orphans receive a higher education at post-secondary institutions in Ukraine. For $80 a month (or $1000 per year) you can sponsor one of the orphans below and save an orphan from the streets. Scholarships are awarded on a merit basis and cover the student's tuition, room and board, books, clothing and allowance.

From: HUHTC Scholarship Program

UOCFP like Life2Orphans works with HUHTC Scholarship Fund. They are trying to find 10 sponsors for 10 young adults attending university.



Something that adoptive parents may find interesting... UOCFP has written a book and create 3 different movies about Ukrainian orphanages. To receive the latest DVD, use this form to send a donation of $20 or more.

Movie 1: A Great Tragedy

A beautiful and emotional piece of work filmed in Ukraine in June of 2005. Wonderful music, film and photo's that describe the situation concerning orphans in Ukraine. 30-minutes long, it will leave you with many long lasting impressions and hopefully a desire to help us make a difference. You will visit "Camp Forest Bell" and the "Koropets Orphanage" in Western Ukraine.

From: UOCFP Projects

The second and third movie are based on footage from the same orphanages. The most recent, third film, is narrated in Ukrainian with English sub-titles. And it is 28 minutes long.

Photo credit: UOCFP photos used with Steve Vetterlein's permission.