Scenes from the Sidewalk

Monday, December 28, 2009

Day Center Christmas Party - Part 2

Here are a few more photos from our Day Center's Christmas party!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Day Center Christmas Party!

On December 25th we had a party at the Day Center! Twenty seven children and nine parents showed up!

The children had dress up costumes to wear.

A Christmas buffet was set up for anyone who was hungry after the skits and games.

And the games were fun!

Then everyone posed for photos with Grandfather Frost or the snow maiden.

Or they posed for a photo with their friends.

I have a lot more great photos and will post some more tomorrow!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

CrossRoads Foundation Banners!

I am SO happy to announce that we have new CrossRoads Foundation banners available! You can use one that looks like this:

or this:

These banners can be cut and pasted and put on your blog or website to help raise money and awareness for our work with street and at risk children!

You can get the html code for these banners by clicking HERE

If you put one on your blog or website, let me know. I will start a special blogroll of supporters and link your site from this blog!

Friday, December 18, 2009

St. Nicholas Day

Today a "Saint Nicholas Fair" was held in an expo complex on the outskirts of Kyiv. The expo complex was huge and the architecture is pure Soviet Union. I took just this one photo of the outside because at -14 C, it was just too darn cold to walk around and take more!

ChildRescue had a booth inside with information about our ministry to street and at risk children. Alena worked at the booth and we had arts and crafts that were handmade by the children to give if people made a donation.

I found it very interesting to spend time at the booth and watch people interact with the booth presentation and make donations. It was encouraging to see people interested and supportive of the organization. I am going to write about this and some things I observed today in more detail once my brain thaws out!

Until then, here's some photos I took of an Ukrainian choir that performed for us.........

It was so cold there were fur hats inside the building as well at outside!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Christmas Is Coming!

Image via Wikipedia

In Ukraine we are slowly moving towards the holiday season! While the Christmas season starts immediately the day after Thanksgiving in Western countries, here things move more slowly.

One of the reasons is that Christmas is not traditionally celebrated on December 25th as it is in other parts of the world. In Ukraine, Christmas is celebrated in the beginning of January according to the Orthodox Church calender. New Year' Eve is a big holiday much like Christmas is in the West and Christmas trees, presents and a visit from Grandfather Christmas are part of the celebration.

A tree is arriving at our Rehabilitation Center next week and I'm sure that a Christmas party will soon follow!

If you are looking for a way to give a special Christmas gift to at risk children, please consider making a tax deductible donation to our organization.

Our goal is simple:

We are transforming the lives of Ukrainian street and at risk children with the gospel and reintegrating them back into families and society.

It doesn't get any better than that..........

If you have any questions you can email me at mmkukraine@yahoo.com.

To donate online, click HERE.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Documentary On Russian Street Children Living With AIDS/HIV

"Seryozha" is a brilliant documentary about a street child in St. Petersburg Russia who asks a man for food during a blizzard. Instead of a meal, he finds a father and a family.

The film does a great job of showing what a child's life is like living on the streets and documents the current government institutional system that has developed in Russia to deal with street children. Unfortunately it is not much improved and only supports the institutional orphanage system that obviously does not work well.

The film follows the story of Seryozha's new "father" who fights to adopt this child he found on the street. He encounters many obstacles in the government system that cares nothing for the individual child or even supports these children being adopted or living with families.

I found the problems and situations in this film very similar to those found in Ukraine and this is why I posted it on our blog. It's about 30 minutes and well worth watching!

To see the video, click HERE.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Thank You For Reading Our Blog

This photo was taken last year at our staff Christmas party. Each staff member had a candle and we stood in a circle and as we lit our neighbor's candle, we blessed them and shared why we are thankful for them.

Now we are virtually lighting a candle for you! Thank you for reading our blog and being open to learn about our ministry to Ukrainian at risk children.