Cold Weather Supplies reach Students in Kiev

Christmas Stockings for all the Children at Mykolaivka Internat

Blankets and Bedside Throw Rugs

An Orphan Smiles is busy this time of year putting together "Dorm Packs" for teenagers who have graduated from the Orphanage System and will enter Vocational Training in September.  During our May Focus Week we received item donations and financial donations to help us with this effort.   AOS does this each year and our collection is ongoing.  Link to our Donation Page.

What we collect:
Linens
2 twin size sheets - flat sheets only
1 bath towel
1 hand towel
Washcloth
1 twin size blanket
Rug / to place by their bedside

Other
1 pad lock and key
1 basic (travel type) clothes-line with clothes pins
Small Flashlight and batteries
Package of dark socks
Package of underwear (in most cases kids large/adult small)

Hygiene Items
Toothpaste - 2 or 3 tubes
2 - Toothbrushes and plastic holder
Deoderant - 2 or 3 containers
Feminine products (for girls)
Soap and plastic holder
Tote Bag or Backpack
Tissue packs (Dollar store)
Slippers and/or shower flip flops

Soccer, Soccer & More Soccer!!

Bogdan, our contact at Orphanage 12, organized a Soccer Tournament at the end of March among teenagers from five different orphanages. Approximately 30 kids met in Kiev to play soccer and also to visit Ukraine's capital. Check out the PHOTO ALBUM.

An Orphan Smiles loves to support activities that provide orphans an opportunity to have fun and to experience life outside the orphanage grounds. Bogdan had gained support for the travel expenses from an Italian organization. An Orphan Smiles collected funds to provide soccer shoes to the kids who do not have footwear to play soccer. We also provided each participant with their own soccer ball and funds to treat all the participants to a lunch at McDonald's while they were visiting the city.

The three day tournament was a HUGE success. Besides the opportunity to play soccer against other teams complete with uniforms and awards, the players were invited to a Dynamo Soccer practice and met many of the professional players. In addition, the group was featured on National TV in Ukraine. Click here to watch the coverage of this special occasion.

Kindergarten Collection continues

Mrs. Purcell's Kindergarten's class in Phoenixville, PA continues to collect much needed items for the orphans each month. December was snack bars. January was toothbrushes and toothpaste. And February was hair accessories for the girls and Hot Wheel cars for the boys.

Severe cold weather in Eastern Europe during January and February created dangerous conditions in Ukraine. An Orphan Smiles donated Emergency funding to replace a Hot water heater and to provide cold and flu medicines.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to our Emergency Fund. The Emergency Fund allows AOS to react to urgent needs overnight.

An Orphan Smiles completed two projects for the 119 kids presently at Mykolaivka Internat. Christmas Stockings were given to the kids on St. Nicholas Day on Dec 19. A HUGE Thank you to Vicki and her extended family for shopping the clearance sales, assembling, and shipping these wonderful treats.

The second project was our Photo Album project for the New Year's Celebration Gift. Each Myko kid received a personalized photo album containing several photos of themselves. There are many empty pages that we can continue to send them photos and sponsors can send photos and they will have a special place to keep these photos. Each photo album was placed in a ziplock bag with a pair of socks, a pair of undewear, a pen and pencil, fruit snacks, winter hats for the girls, and some of the boys got gloves, some got little footballs, and everyone got a Candy Cane.

HUGE THANK YOU to Kelly and her team of scrapbook artists for making ALL the albums!!!! Those that helped Kelly included Grace, Tara, Dan, Maggie and the "Scarlet Sweethearts" Red Hat Club!!! HUGE undertaking to design over 100 albums! Each album had the child's name in both English and Russian. No two albums were alike and both the front and back were done. Really Amazing!!