Ukraine Children’s Aid Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, was started by two Baltimore-area CPAs, Brian Kelley and Jeffrey Ring. While Brian has been working in Ukraine since 1996, Jeff’s first trip to Ukraine was in 2003, when both were invited to lecture university students in the city of Dnipropetrovs’k, primarily in the areas of accounting, economics and finance. After lecturing for a week, they visited the city of Kherson in the southern region of Ukraine. It was there that they saw first-hand the plight of some of Ukraine’s “street children”, and the fledgling work started by Dr. Andrei Revtov, Galina Kuleshova and Natasha Selivanova to help those kids.

Ukrainian officials estimate that there are 500,000 to 800,000 children living on and under the streets of Ukraine's cities. In Kherson, local city officials estimate their share of these children to be around 5,000. Each local internot (orphanage) only has room for a maximum of 300 kids, often less. The rest are, literally, on their own. Some of these children are orphans; some have experienced domestic abuse and have run away to escape it; many have been abandoned by parents who can’t afford to feed and house themselves, let alone their children. As unspeakable as it may seem, children of all ages are abandoned every day in the cities of Ukraine.

The plight of these children is heartbreaking. Some newborns are abandoned by their mothers in the hospital. If a home cannot be found for these babies, they will be raised in the hospital until they reach age 3, when they are transferred to an orphanage for small children (ages 3-8). Most of the children adopted in Ukraine come from these centers, but a significant number of the kids here are not so lucky. If they have not been adopted by their 8th birthday, they are then transferred to the main orphanage for kids ages 8-17. Here they are provided with a meager existence, a rudimentary education and, for some, an abusive and painful existence. At age 17, they are released from the orphanage and sent to technical school. After that, it is back to the streets for the large majority, since jobs are scarce and the training is substandard.

Kelley and Ring returned to the Kherson street kids’ center, where they were exposed to the severe problems that exist in the region. Together, they resolved to do whatever they could to try to help the center. Brian Kelley has been instrumental in raising awareness of these needs at Chapelgate Presbyterian Church, where he serves as business administrator. Jeffrey Ring found many opportunities to share his experiences and concerns with his clients, nearly all of whom wondered “why on earth anyone would want to go to Ukraine.” In those early days, both men were able to enlist the help of friends, clients and associates by asking for (and receiving) donations of new and used winter coats, hats and scarves—items so desperately needed and painfully unavailable to children living on the streets.

During a return visit in September, 2004, both men came to the conclusion that the needs were growing at a rapid pace, but there was not anywhere near enough help being provided (particularly from the West) to meet those expanding needs. In November, they formed Ukraine Children's Aid Fund, Inc. in order to provide a vehicle for people from all walks of life to help out – regardless of their race, color or creed.

It is the express hope and desire of Messer’s Kelly and Ring that, some time in the future, the government and citizens of Ukraine will be in a position to fully provide quality foster care, employment opportunities, education and support for the orphans and street children of Ukraine. Until then, these children need all the help they can get, and that is exactly what UCAF is trying to do – help them!!

UCAF's IRS Determination Letter