“The Great Kozovaya,” who heads our “Response of the Heart” team in Belarus, has delivered her annual report on the activities made possible by New Thing’s generous friends.
I won’t make you wade through the Russian 🙂 Here are the highlights:
In 2015, Response of the Heart received donations in the form of 16 loads of humanitarian aid from Germany, Ireland, and the United States with a total weight of 160.8 tons, and worth 2,541,346,400 Belarusian rubles — or about $117,005.45 in today’s dollars.
This humanitarian cargo included clothes, shoes, food, hygiene items, furniture and household furnishings, household appliances, medical equipment and supplies, building materials, sanitary ware, sports equipment, toys, and family-to-family parcels.
The humanitarian aid was distributed to the disabled, the elderly, children, large families and foster families, the homeless, war veterans, concentration camp survivors, and others in need — a total of 6,200 individuals, as well as 72 institutions, associations, and other groups.
In addition to this ongoing work, we had the joy of supporting various special projects:
At Zhodino, we funded the construction of a “Zontik” where children who witness crimes or are victims can be deposed by a child psychologist in a child-friendly environment with an unobtrusive camera feeding the interview to law enforcement personnel for use by the courts.
We funded new windows at the boarding school for deaf childrenat Vitebsk, as well as an “Island of Joy” for deaf preschool orphans to enjoy on weekends and holidays when other children return to their families, and a miniature apartment for teaching life skills to older boys preparing to leave the boarding school and live on their own.
In Glussk, we funded a children’s laundry room and additional furnishings for the boarding school.
And at the boarding school in Chekhovshchinskaya, we provided an entire kitchen full of new cooking utensils and kitchenware.
One generous couple funded a large walk-in closet area at the Ushachi shelter for abused and abandoned children.
We funded sports equipment for “children of Chernobyl” and other youngsters at the Belarusian President’s “Camp Planet” project.
We provided a washing machine and a computer for a foster family with 10 children.
We underwrote a summer camp at Berezino for children with disabilities.
We provided a little financial support for Sasha Chernitsky’s soup kitchen for the homeless in Minsk.
This entire “Response of the Heart” operation is 100% funded by New Thing. They receive no other support. It’s all us!
I salute every person who gave in 2015, and look forward to the great stuff we’ll accomplish together in this new year!
Thanks for journeying with us! Much love, Doug Brendel
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