Learn how an Unplanned Shelter Visit led to UCAF
Teaching “Amercanski” football to a group of street kids in Ukraine in 2004 gave founder Jeff Ring the inspiration to start the Ukraine Children’s Aid Fund.
Many Problems for Children: In Ukraine, an estimated 500,000 children are suffering from severe adversities such as neglect, abuse, and abandonment as well as physical illnesses, disabilities, malnutrition, and psychological trauma. These challenges are intensified by a critical lack of basic necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter.
Many Causes of Suffering: Chronic issues like poverty, corruption, and societal challenges have plagued this region before it was further destabilized by the Russian invasion leading to family separations, loss of employment, and economic upheaval. The war has intensified these pre-existing hardships, adding forced displacement and loss of parents, homes, villages, and farmlands.
One Solution to Help: You Can Help to promote life-changing transformation in the lives of Ukrainian children by making a tax-deductible donation that brings help, hope, and healing to these precious little ones.
Hear from Serhii Kukushkin – UCAF Field Director
Serhii Kukushkin is a native Ukrainian and serves as UCAF’s Field Director. He has personally witnessed the desperate and heartbreaking conditions for children and families there. Sergii has been this organization’s boots on the ground for nearly 20 years as our most trusted Ukrainian partner to ensure that your generous donation is most wisely invested in the lives of Ukraine's precious children. Because of Serhii and other trusted partners in Ukraine, we are uniquely positioned to determine and address the most pressing requirements as the situations demand.
The dire plight of over 500,000 children in Ukraine – especially those without families and those living in the poorest regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson – is now far more desperate than ever before as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We have received firsthand reports of children being killed in explosions, as well as being shot by the invading soldiers – that is correct. Ukrainians are fleeing for their lives, but children without families to care for them are facing abandonment and life-threatening circumstances. UCAF was serving in Ukraine before the war, and we will remain there long after the war ends.