Life pack project

An Orphan Smiles would like to send a big "Thank You" to those who have recently participated in the Life Pack Project. All O12 graduates will be getting these packs, and so far we have 36 Myko graduates receiving a pack. Myko still needs volunteers to put together six more life packs. These packs are comprised of a few simple household items that will make a big difference as the students leave school and head out to trade school. If you would like to help in any way, please let Rachael know at mykovocational@yahoo.com Rachael will be happy to fill you in with all of the details.

AOS is now a 501 (c) (3)

It is with great excitement that we have the pleasure of announcing that An Orphan Smiles, Inc. is now a recognized 501 (c) (3) non profit as determined by the Internal Revenue Service. Contributions made after August 14, 2008 are now deductible under section 170 of the Code. This nonprofit status allows us to expand our fundraising opportunities including applying for grants, corporate donations and to be eligible for matching funds.

If you have any questions regarding our nonprofit status, please email Diane at dianes@AnOrphanSmiles.org

We are on facebook.

An Orphan Smiles now has a facebook cause page. You can access the page through the link below. It's nice to put a face to the friends of An Orphan Smiles too.

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/261762?m=91e6b129

New KIDS and GAP programs!

Mykolaivka Internat recently added two sponsorship programs: GAP (graduate assistance program) and KIDS (kindness is donating smiles).

The KIDS program helps the students who are living at the Internat. Sponsorship is easy. After a student is assigned, you write letters to your child and send two basic packages per year. The children love to receive letters and packages from sponsors. Most importantly, the correspondence lets the children know that they have someone who cares about them. The annual cost for this program is $60.00 per year. This annual fee pays for a birthday party, Christmas celebration and costs for the in-country team.

The GAP program is also a sponsorship program. The sponsor pays $40.00 per month (this can be split between two sponsors) to help the graduate get through trade school. The students use this money for basic living supplies. They also learn how to budget and save for when they graduate and need to live on their own. Letters to the sponsored children are encouraged, packages are optional. Thirty dollars of this money goes to the student, five dollars goes to the in-country team for communications and travel expenses and the remaining five goes to Valentina who heads the program at Myko.

If you are interested in sponsoring a student through the GAP or KIDS program, please contact

Rachael Davidson - mykovocational@yahoo.com for GAP and

Stephanie Crail - Myko_Crail@yahoo.com for KIDS

Knitting project donated

An Orphan Smiles received a donation yesterday from the "Knit One, Purl Two, Pray Three" Sunday morning knitting group from St. John's Lutheran Church in Phoenixville, PA. The small group of knitters gather during the Sunday School hour for knitting and fellowship. They will continue to work on on toys and hats for the orphans. Received were 18 winter hats and 3 adorable knitted toys.

Feed the mind update

Thanks to the generous donations to the Feed the Mind program at Internat Mykolaivka, we have been able to purchase 80 new books for the 2nd Shipment to Myko for $500.00 which included shipping. These books consisted of: The Harry Potter Series, The Golden Compass Series, The Spiderwick Chronicles and various Series of books of Russian / Ukrainian authors - Tanya Grotter (Nancy Drew type) and Golden Dog Series (Zolotoi Pes.)

Thanks to all to bringing us closer to completing the Internat Myko Library..

New Sponsorship program at Myko

An Orphan smiles is pleased to announce that it has launched the KIDS and GAP sponsorship programs at Myko. Both programs have some students available for sponsorship and details can be found on the website or by e-mailing Stephanie for the KIDS program at Myko_Crail@yahoo.com or Rachael for the GAP program at rachaeld@anorphansmiles.org