Your tummy hurts.
You cry every day.
You complain to your mom.
She probably doesn’t tell you that you live in the “contaminated zone” near Chernobyl.
But you’re one of hundreds of children suffering from thyroid problems, gastrointestinal problems, endocrine problems, in this region.
We’ll probably never know if, or how much, these children are suffering side-effects of radiation from a nuclear tragedy that happened 30 years ago.
All we can do is love them. Care for them. Help them heal.
Here are 200 of them. In the town of Porechsky, in the Grodno region of Belarus.
At a boarding school for treatment of sick kids.
Most of them, from the irradiated Chernobyl region.
The children live here 24/7 — they sleep, wake, go to classes, eat meals, study.
They play, do chores, sneak notes in class, get crushes, cry into their pillows late at night, everything.
Until they’re well enough to leave.
The workers here are the only family they have, till they go home to their families.
But the facility is old.
They are hoping for window coverings, for 16 of their dormitory windows.
They need a lawnmower, too — right now, the only way to keep the grass from overgrowing the boarding school is to hack at it with an old-fashioned scythe.
And if you ask director Larisa what she dreams of — on her “impossible wish list” — she prays for two laptops … for her staff and for the big kids, to connect with the outside world more easily.
I want to help the workers at Porechsky care for these children more effectively.
A dear friend, a longtime supporter seeing the need, has already pledged to match the first $1,000 given, dollar-for-dollar, toward this need.
The window coverings would be only $41.54 each.
The industrial-strength lawnmower for a property of this size will be $376.60.
The laptops are just $434.76 apiece, or $869.52 total.
So here’s the bottom line. The total opportunity is $1,910.71.
Thanks to the matching challenge from our friend, it will only take $955.36 to get there.
I leave for Belarus on February 10th. Less than 2 weeks from today.
I would love to say to director Larisa, when I arrive, “We are with you.”
But whatever you can give will be a blessing to them.
If by God’s grace, friends like you give more than the $1,910.71 for the whole need,
every additional penny will still go directly, totally, into the care of needy people in Belarus.
Thanks to the matching challenge from our friend, it will only take
Let me know if you feel you can do anything.
Thank you so much. I am grateful that you are journeying with us!
God bless you!
Much love,
Doug Brendel