Feed the soul trip for Tsurupinsk

From December 26 - 28, fifteen disabled orphans from the Tsurupinsk Children's Home in Kherson, Ukraine were treated to a special Holiday trip to the Capitol city of Kiev. An Orphan Smiles helped provide funding to allow the children to enjoy many special activities for the first time in their lives. They went to a Sea World type show, a movie theater, and an arcade. They also enjoyed sightseeing in a special bus, and meals out at McDonald's and Pizza!

Zhenya is OUT OF JAIL!!

An Orphan Smiles has been supporting the effort to get an innocent orphan accused of murder released from prison.

Our attorney Oleg picked Zhenya up at prison at 6:00PM on Tuesday, November 10 and brought him to the local police station to sign some papers. Zhenya's two sisters and Bogdan were already waiting there. Zhenya was in shock. Zhenya thought they were going to beat him again. He didn't dream he would be released.

The charges have not been dropped yet, so technically Zhenia is still a suspect, but the fact that he was released means a lot. This happened after our attorney Oleg arranged a special inquiry into the police by several Parliament members. That was the last drop - after all the media coverage, press conferences, protests from Ukrainian and international human rights groups etc. The police department is finally backing off and is desperately trying to find a way to avoid punishment. Bogdan wants to pass along Zhenya's thanks to everyone who have been supporting him during these years. Without your support Zhenya would have been in prison for 6 more years and would have been labled as a murderer for the rest of his life. Our battle is not over yet, but we are VERY close to victory.

There are many important things that are worth fighting for, and many good projects worthy of support, but there are hardly things more important than JUSTICE and FREEDOM. THANK YOU to everyone who kept Zhenya in their prayers and contributed to legal fees, food and supplies while he spent 3 years in prison for a crime he did not commit!

Christmas gifts

An Orphan Smiles has assembled 170 ziplock bags full of goodies for the children at Mykolaivka Internat, 49 ziplock bags full of goodies for the children at Orphanage 12, and 200 beanie babies and 200 treat bags will be on there way to Ukraine soon for the children at Tsuripinsk. An Orphan Smiles would like to thank everyone who helped make the Christmas project possible. It is your generosity that has enabled the orphans that we help have a wonderful holiday season.

We are still in need of help towards shipping costs. If you can help with any amount to offset the cost of getting the Christmas packages to Myko, O12 or Tsuripinsk it would be very much appreciated. Here is a link to our Christmas page to make a donation:

http://www.anorphansmiles.org/Content/Christmas.htm

Annual meeting news.

I would like to take a minute to let you all know that we are planning on holding our Second Annual Meeting of An Orphan Smiles on Saturday November 7, 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona.

This is an open invitation to all our supporters to join the board members, officers, coordinators, and other volunteers for this special get together. Anyone is welcome to attend!


Last year eight of us met in Denver, Colorado and having the ability to meet in person really was what got our organization off to a wonderful start! I personally can't say enough about how wonderful it was to meet fellow volunteers in person and really get to know them. The discussions were so productive and we accomplished so much, but at the same time the time spent socializing and getting to know each other was simply awesome and a lot of fun!

We have selected the following hotel for our accommodations and our meeting point as it is not too far from the airport, provides a free airport shuttle and a complimentary breakfast.

Doubletree Guest Suites Phoenix
320 North 44th St., Phoenix, Arizona 85008-7698
Tel: 1-602-225-0500 Fax: 1-602-231-0561
Here is a cut and paste link.
http://doubletree1.hilton.com/en_US/dt/hotel/PHXFVDT-Doubletree-Guest-Suites-Phoenix-Arizona/index.do

In general, we plan on arriving late afternoon/early evening Friday and departing sometime on Sunday.

If you are at all interested and have any questions please send an email to info@AnOrphanSmiles .org. If you are planning to attend, please email as well so that we can plan activities accordingly based on the number of participants.

Hope to see you in November!

Diane Sitkowski

Three large boxes

A big thank you to Debbie Walker and everyone who has contributed in June and July to the Tsurupinsk Art Project! Debbie shipped three very large boxes today.

The photo shows a sample of things that where sent. The staff at Tsurupinsk are thilled to hear that they are getting these art supplies for the children.

Christmas is coming!

An Orphan Smiles has launched its Christmas program. Details can be viewed on our website: http://www.anorphansmiles.org/Content/Christmas.htm. Special thanks to Joan of Phoenixville, PA and her family who donated a whole box of stuffed animals (80+) and Rebecca of E Grand Forks, MN and her family who donated over 90 stuffed animals. These adorable toys will be sent to the Tsurupinsk orphanage later this year to arrive in time for the Holidays.

Tsurupinsk Children's Home is home to 207 physically and mentally handicapped children aged 4 to 18. Tsurupinsk is located in southern Ukraine in the Kherson region approximately 350 miles south of Kiev. All the children have major physical handicaps that make it difficult for them to move around and support themselves (no leg(s), hand(s), etc). There are 112 children who attend school on site. Sadly, 95 children have severe mental and physical handicaps and never leave their beds.

O12 grads are fully sponsored.

The ninth year students at Kiev Orphanage 12 have just graduated in June! The staff worked very hard to make this a special day of celebration for the students. An Orphan Smiles is very proud of them!

An Orphan Smiles would really like to thank Leslie who has done such a great job finding GAP sponsors for each one of these students. These graduates can now go to trade school, knowing that they have a friend who cares and will help them financially so that they can complete their training. Without sponsorship, they would be inclined to worry about how to afford their essential needs and living expenses. Those who are not sponsored and do not receive this type of support, are more inclined to fall out of their training programs due to financial dispair, and turn to the streets and crime for survival. Little do they know, that when this happens, their chances of survival are reduced dramatically.

Sponsors are still needed for Tsurupinsk and Myko graduates. If you are interested in helping a student through trade school please contact Leslie for Tsurupinsk at lar1696@yahoo.com and Rachael for myko at mykovocational@yahoo.com.