TLC Pals

Are you ready for TLC Pals?

We have a deep love for orphans, and have desired to be and do more than donate diapers and formula. The children certainly need these things and more, but what will make a true difference in their lives? Relationships.

We are offering an opportunity for you to give to a child in an orphanage...to give of yourself that is. Become a TLC Pal and exchange monthly letters with an at-risk child. These kids are at-risk for several possible reasons. Perhaps they have run away from their orphanage. They may have been removed from an abusive family. We do not know their stories yet, but we do know that they need positive relationships and encouragement...from anywhere.

We are starting small. Twelve children, out of a group of twenty eight, have requested a TLC Pal. Three girls and nine boys from the ages of 7 to 16. Think of this as a mini-sponsorship!

Guidelines:

1. As a TLC Pal, you will write to your child at least once a month, then send the letter to Project TLC by the 15th of the month. We will send the letters over in one group, to be translated and delivered. The letters will be translated by a delightful young man, Valeriy, who himself grew up in orphanages since the age of four.

2. We ask that you make a one year commitment to this project. These are children who have often been disappointed. We do not wish to add to their pain.

3. Speaking of disappointment, don't make any promises other than to write again next month.

4. Please include $1 gratuity for our awesome translator each month. Not only has he offered to do this for free (we won't allow that), he has offered to help some of the children who need help writing their letters. Valeriy has a tender heart for these kids.

Email ProjectTLC@cox.net to become a TLC Pal to an at-risk child in Ukraine. We have twelve children anxiously awaiting your letters!

Winter update

Thank you to the fine folks of Kearney, Nebraska! Your Cupcakes for a Cause event raised over $2500 for Project TLC and our project at the mental internat in Crimea. We'll post photos as soon as they are available.

Project TLC has been at work in the Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine. Stephanie is in the process of adopting Maxim, an eight year old boy with Down Syndrome. She has been privileged to tag along with members of True Hope Ukraine as they visit dorms, handicapped facilities and orphanages.

Project TLC is setting up a pen pal program for some of the children we meet. Would your family like to commit to writing to a Ukrainian child once a month? It is a mutual blessing to make friends with someone from another culture, on the other side of the world! Consider becoming a TLC Pal. Email ProjectTLC@cox.net for more information.

We will have more exciting program developments to share very soon. Thank you!

Roof Update

Last week I requested some more information about the roofing project at the children's mental institution in Crimea. I now have a little more information to share with you.

According to our contact person, "So, after I talked with the director here is what she told me. They are planning to do the roof this summer and fall (right now!!) as soon as they can before rains come. Sounds like they are determined to do that. She said they are looking for money everywhere they can. And she is getting a bit here a bit there. One businessman offered them some, a town authorities some. She is very thankful for anything she can find. What is happening with the roof? I understand they had one type of cover there based on tar but it wasn't good. So now they are replacing it with concrete wavy material you can see in Ukraine used allover. Also some bearing elements of the roof have to be replaced. That's the situation there."

 Now we understand that there are some structural repairs that need to be made in addition to the roof covering. I won't make any apologies about raising funds for this purpose. The children there need a warm, dry and SAFE place to call home. Project TLC will continue to meet the basic needs of these precious and worthy children as we are able.

Let us make a big dent in the funds that are needed to complete this job! Thanks for coming alongside us!

The roof over their heads

We were so excited to be able to replace some windows for the children's mental institution in Crimea last winter. When we agreed to purchase these windows, since we couldn't replace them all, we requested that priority be given to the most vulnerable children, the ones confined to bed in laying rooms. The rooms to which my son, Theo, would have been transferred if we had not adopted him in time.

Almost immediately after the windows were installed, record breaking cold weather took hold of Eastern Europe for many, many weeks. Temperatures dropped to -35F and hundreds of people died. How satisfying to know that those children were more comfortable than they might have been without you help!

Project TLC has inquired with this same facility about their present needs. The response was surprising. Even though we are aware that many more windows are falling apart, the director has requested assistance with roof repairs as the first priority.

Eastern European orphanage directors are not all cut from the same cloth. This director does not have new windows in her office...this is just one way we have been able to determine that she places value on the needs of the children in her care.

We have some money reserved to send diapers, soap and cleaning supplies and special formula, which were also requested. However, we are starting from scratch to raise the $20,000 needed to repair the roof.

Chloe, Zhen, Theo, Carrington...they would have all been transferred to this facility if they had not been adopted in time. We want to care for the children who did get transferred...the ones who were not and may never be chosen to join a family. Help us show these children and the director of this facility they are worthy of our care and concern! Thank you!

Gifts to this chip-in fundraiser are tax deductible, as allowed by law.

News - at long last!

We have been very busy for the past few months!

Intern Amy has been a real worker bee, researching, phone calling, emailing, hobnobbing, paper writing, and much, much more. We have been conferencing and planning and yes...scheming!

A plan is coming together. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? A plan to directly help disabled orphans in Ukraine. I wish I could share more details with you, because it is very exciting to imagine the possibilities! But, we have yet to secure the approvals that we need to begin our pilot program.

Please pray that the correct route to approval and implementation would be made abundantly clear to us and that hearts would be touched and softened along the way.

In other news, Project TLC has been invited to return to the institution in Crimea. We are putting together a small team for a trip tentatively set for October 2012. This time we will be permitted to work with the children, praise God!

We are taking baby steps. Will you take them with us?

Welcome Amy!

Please help Project TLC welcome Amy Patterson as our new intern! Amy is a graduate student in Cultural Studies at the University of Washington and mother of a beautiful young girl with Down Syndrome. She shares our passion and love for individuals with disabilities. She is a fantastic asset to our team!

Project TLC was never ever intended to be just another organization that ships diapers and formula to orphanages. There is a need for that, but we know firsthand that the children those things and more. 

Project TLC is pleased to have been able to distribute donations of diapers, hygenic supplies, cleaning supplies, school supplies and more. We are overjoyed that we were able to replace some drafty windows and help the children stay warmer this winter. You helped us to accomplish these things! We hope to continue! We thank you heartily!

But now, how do we truly improve the lives of these children? We would like to turn our attention to the intangible ways of making a difference. Things like eye contact, tender words, loving touch, stable relationships. Ask a parent of a post-institutionalized child what a difference those things could have made in the life child. It's huge.

Amy is already hard at work with us! We are building frameworks for new programs, researching existing ones, making connections and strategic partnerships. Although things seem quiet on the surface, we are paddling furiously under the water. 

There is much work to do, much information to wade through, and many children who are presently suffering. Won't you please pray that God would continue to bless our efforts and keep connecting us with the right people to get this job done?

~Stephanie

The Windows!

We received word recently that the new energy efficient windows for the mental institution have been installed! We were sent some wonderful photos, too. Take a look:

Here you see one side of one wing of the building. We took this photo in November. You will notice that there are a few newer windows already installed, the white ones. The brown windows are around 60 years old.

The brown wooden windows are rotted and missing pieces here and there. We were told that some of the windows we replaced were literally falling out of the building.

Here are the beautiful new windows delivered and waiting for installation.

First things first. Demolition! The children in this room were moved to a different area for the day.

That is a BIG window! Those are some thick concrete walls!

Fitting the beautiful new windows.

Proud of a job well done!

As the job was being finished, some brutally cold weather set in, record breaking cold weather. These windows were installed just in time. There is some concrete work that would have to wait until warmer weather. 

Thank you for partnering with Project TLC to help the bedridden and disabled orphans to stay warm this winter.