Ukrainian Life Connections

A World Beyond the Orphanage

Home

Children Needing Sponsors

Letters and Packages

Rules and Guidelines

Ukraine Life

Kids and Sponsors

Reports from Orphanage

Orphanage Report 12/07

Ukrainian Representative

Team Members and Staff

Ukrainian Culture

Rules of Sponsorship
 

Sponsorship Costs

$15.00 per month, per child, includes these services from Ukrainian Life Connections:

          One translated letter to your child per month
          Postage-paid envelopes available to your sponsored child for reply, and translation of reply (soon to be handled electronically)
          Access to all photographs from Ukraine, hosted on flickr.com
          Monthly reports and photos from our Ukrainian representative trips to the orphanage
          Representative services = specifics about your child: grades, sizes, needs, etc.
          Prompt replies and assistance from our sponsorship team
         
Other Services Available to Sponsors:

          Ukrainian Life Connections offers sponsors additional translation services of letters or replies at our cost of $3.75 per letter (one page).

          Ukrainian Life Connections offers sponsors the ability to transfer money to sponsored children or to the Orphanage Director at our service fee cost of 7%.


Rules and Protocol for Sponsors

Our emphasis is on personal attention, communication and guidance.

The Orphanage Director has requested that gift packages be sent no more than 4 times per year.  Ideally, these times would be: the beginning of the school year; your child's birthday; Christmas; and the end of school year / beginning of the Summer holiday.

Please, no food, candy, or other sweets.  Dental care is virtually non-existent for these children.  Please encourage good dental habits by providing toothbrushes and toothpaste !

Letters, cards, photos are all welcome at all times.  Your child's most prized possessions will be the letters and photos sent by you !

No guns or war toys !  No weapons of any kind - this includes pirate swords & knives, cowboy guns, light sabers, etc.

No expensive toys, clothing, or electronics.  If you are not sure if a gift is appropriate, please ask us before purchasing!

The School Director encourages kids to spend their free time in wholesome productive activities: reading, arts & crafts, games & sports, woodworking and needlework, knitting & embroidery.  Supplies for any of these activities are always appreciated and will always be used.

Some examples of good gift choices:

games not requiring reading
art materials: paper, colored pencils and crayons, watercolors
volleyballs and basketballs
yarns and embroidery threads, needles
picture books
dolls -- Barbie is very popular with girls of all ages
toy trucks and cars, trains
soft toys / stuffed animals are loved by kids of all ages
school supplies
socks & underwear
hats & mittens / gloves & scarves
blankets and large bath-size towels

If you would like to provide toiletries or shoes for your child, it is probably best to transfer cash and the Director will arrange for a shopping trip with your child to purchase what they most need.  We will always try to get photographs of purchases.

Please review procedures for sending letters or parcels.
 
Home | New Featured Kids | Letters and Packages | Rules and Guidelines
Ukraine Life | Reports from the Orphanage | Ukrainian Representative
Team Members and Staff | Ukrainian Culture
Ukrainian Life Connections, 2008
Connecting Sponsors with Orphans in Ukraine.




facts and disclosures

Ukrainian Life Connections is not an official non-profit organization. However, Ukrainian Life Connections does operate and will continue to operate NOT for profit. A $15.00 per month per orphan fee pays primarily for translations of letters, expenses of Ukrainian representative to travel from Kiev to the orphanage and back, and to take photographs, scan and email letters, etc. In addition, the expenses of some computer equipment necessary to increase efficiency of the sponsorship program will be paid for out of sponsorship fees. At the end of a calendar year, any moneys left over from sponsorship fees will be donated outright to the orphanage to be used in a program of need for the orphans in ukraine.

Ukrainian Life Connections sells no product. The main function of Ukrainian Life Connections is to help foster relationships between caring adults and needy orphans in the poorest regions of Ukraine. For these Ukrainian orphans to survive - not only within an orphanage - but also outside after graduation - they need hope. They need guidance and to know that there are other kind and caring people in the world - that there is something worth struggling for.

Some of the benefits to sponsored orphans in Ukraine:
  • Sponsored Ukrainian orphans receive hope through your letters.
  • Sponsored Ukrainian orphans receive love through your letters.
  • Sponsored Ukrainian orphans receive hope and love through your photographs.
  • Orphans in Ukraine may get the inspiration they need from a sponsor to continue fighting to improve themselves.
  • You may be the spark needed to instill an orphan in Ukraine with the drive to work and study hard.
  • When you sponsor orphans in Ukraine, you can send warm clothing and blankets and other needs to Ukraine.

Share your life with an orphan in Ukraine, and find out how easy and rewarding it is to give love and inspiration to a child who needs more hope in the world. The cost is minimal, and the time involved is completely up to you.

It is estimated that there are over 100,000 orphans in Ukraine. Some of these are "true" orphans who have lost their parents to disease or accidents. Many others are what is known as "social" orphans -- children who have either been abandoned by their parents, or whose parents have been deprived of their parental rights due to abuse, neglect, alcoholism, drug abuse, or other circumstances.

Many of the other orphans in Ukrainian orphanages  have parents who simply cannot afford to care for them properly. The International Labor Organization calculates that Ukraine's real unemployment level is nearly 7%, and almost 40% of the population lives below the poverty line. These statistics may give some indication of the life that awaits an orphan in Ukraine once that orphan has moved outside of the protection of an orphanage.

It has been calculated elsewhere that about 10% of these orphans commit suicide after leaving an orphanage and before turning 18. 60% of females turn to prostitution in order to make a living, and approximately 70% of males end up involved in crime - with many of males and females ending up finally in jail. When these orphans leave the orphanage, many are being put into the wide world, while missing many essential life skills -- not able to cook, use a bank, balance a budget -- or in any other way navigate through the complicated world outside, having utterly lost any social safety net.

Ukrainian Life Connections is asking mostly for your time, your energy, your love, your imagination. Please help us help these orphans in Ukraine.