Our accomplishments this past year, made possible by donors’ kindness and generosity, include:

• Purchase and delivery of winter boots to approximately 1,250 orphans (ages 8-17) in the Kherson region this past Christmas. These were good quality boots, purchased in Ukraine so as to help support the local economy, and were provided at the request of each of the area’s orphanage directors. For most of these children, this is the first time in their lives that they have had good winter footwear, and each child received a pair measured to fit them!
• Christmas delivery of Beanie Babies for the children in the Kiev Children’s Cancer Hospital, along with a bag of candy (and a visit by a local clown) for each of the 2,500+ orphans in the Kherson region.
• Delivery of 125 winter coats, 350 wool knit hats, assorted gloves, scarves and mittens for use by street children’s centers in Kiev and Kherson.
• Purchase of food for 50-75 needy families in Kherson, and some badly needed equipment for the Kherson Children’s Hospital.
• Purchase of school bags, writing tablets, pens, pencils and other school supplies, to enable more than 50 street children to attend school.
• Started and finished construction of a natural gas heat and hot water system at Tavyrisk, an orphanage in the Kherson oblast, home to more than 280 orphans between the ages of 8 and 17.
• Became the primary source of support for the Kherson kids’ center, which employs more than a dozen workers and provides at least two meals per day to anywhere from 50 to 125 children.

Former coal-burning furnace at Tavyrisk, full of cracks and barely functional

New heating system UCAF installed in 2006 at the Tavyrisk orphanage. They now have heat and hot water for the first time in 20 years!