Summer greetings!
Great news:
The government of Belarus bestowed a tremendous honor on our “Response of the Heart” team in Minsk, inviting “The Great Kozovaya” to an official ceremony celebrating the team’s many contributions to the life of the nation over the course of more than a decade.
It was really a celebration of YOU — because New Thing has the honor of providing 100% of the funding for Response of the Heart’s entire operation!
If you’ve given to New Thing, you’ve helped completely renovate the shelter for abused and abandoned children at Zhodino: beds, furniture, paint, floors, the works — plus a whole new commercial kitchen and laundry.
You’ve built the “Domik” (little house), an after-school center for at-risk children, designed to prevent child abuse and abandonment — the first of its kind in the entire nation — beautifully effective, and now a model for other cities and towns.
You’ve built the “Zontik” (little umbrella) on the second floor of the Domik — where children can receive gentle care in the midst of emotionally overwhelming court cases involving violence and other traumatic events. Also here, at-risk moms and dads learn parenting skills, and teens at risk of suicide receive counseling.
You helped lay a brand-new sidewalk around the Zhodino shelter facility.
You’ve built a children’s playroom at the Ushachi Regional Hospital near the Russian border, and funded a massive renovation of the once-decrepit children’s wing, including windows, computers, televisions, furniture, bedding, kitchen equipment, air purifiers, and more.
You responded to a true emergency by replacing the water pump at a boarding school for the blind at Shklov.
You installed brand-new closets for all the sick children in the boarding school at Glusk.
You’ve provided security equipment, a laptop, and furniture at the shelter for abused and abandoned children at Smolevichi.
You’ve provided three huge freezers at the boarding school for children with respiratory ailments at Bogushevsk.
You provided fuel and basic expenses so an Irish charity could ferry and truck in more than 8 tons of humanitarian aid.
You’ve provided 18 months’ worth of medicines and medical products for disabled children at the boarding school at Osipovichi.
You’ve enabled Response of the Heart to bring into the country 17 donated brand-new medical devices, including blood gas analyzers for resuscitation and hospital surgery departments.
You’ve provided kitchen equipment and playground equipment (including a cool trampoline!) for the “Planet Camp” for children of Chernobyl and other youngsters from across the country.
You’ve provided a “life starter kit” for the graduating class of 17-year-old orphans at Kobryn, near the Polish border.
Plus, right now, by supporting New Thing you’re helping more than 6,000 families a year, including foster families, as well as the poor, the elderly, the disabled — supplying humanitarian aid to 60+ institutions and groups across Belarus, as well as feeding and caring for the homeless face-to-face through our soup kitchen every day!
And there’s more. You may actually remember some other project that you gave toward at some point, that isn’t listed here.
Please know your generosity has made an impact!
If I listed everything you’ve helped our team do in Belarus, it would be a really, really long email!
So I’m celebrating your love … and I hope you’re celebrating too. You’re making a beautiful difference for children, families, and individuals in the former USSR.
Thank you! God bless you!
Much love,
Doug Brendel