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Our Story
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In summer of 2018, when my brother Andrew was a high school student, and I was still in middle school, my family was visiting our grandparents in Kazakhstan. Every day, looking through the window, we were observing little kids, not older than 3 years old, playing in the small yard across the street. One day, we were passing by the kids when one little boy ran to the iron fence and looking through the rods started calling us addressing my mother “mom.” To my surprise, my mother did not stop but on the opposite began to walk even faster, almost running away from the child who kept calling after her. When I looked at my mother, I saw that she was crying. This is how I found out that the kids playing in the yard across the street where little orphans looking for their mothers and waiting to go home. This was an orphanage for about 30 little kids from 6 months to 3 years old.
A couple days later, we decided to visit the orphanage and see if we could be of any help. No, we did not adopt a child, but we visited the kids a few times that summer to play with.
A couple days later, we decided to visit the orphanage and see if we could be of any help. No, we did not adopt a child, but we visited the kids a few times that summer to play with.
When we got back to school, Andrew came up with the idea to organize a fundraiser to collect toys for Kazakh orphans through his school Beta Club. With his best friend Greg Steckel, they brought their friends, and I and Greg's sister Katherine brought some people from our middle schools to join the project. Together we raised a huge amount of toys and sent six big boxes of gently used toys to orphan kids. And this is how the project of our time began.
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The next year, the four of us were busy organizing fundraisers for toys, gently used clothes, and money through Atlanta's local Russian-speaking communities, churches, and schools. Our team grew to nine members; we had a plan with clear goals and job responsibilities, and we realized we needed an organization to report the money we collected and to show our donors that the funds were raised reached the orphans.
In 2019, the four of us became the co-founders and, with the help of our parents, registered a Non-Profit Charity Organization in the state of GA. The next year, we started to help one more orphanage for older kids in Moscow and supported both. |
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In 2022, after Andrew and Greg went to college, I became the President of Gifts4Orphans and started looking for new compassionate members to join the charity to continue to help little kids in Kazakhstan. In March 2022, we partnered with the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, Georgia Branch, and began to organize fundraisers to help Ukrainian children who suffered from the war. With the war in Ukraine, we were not able to support kids in Moscow any longer.
I started with just two people and grew the team to eight active members and the liaison people in Kazakhstan. We did not run toy or clothes drives any more. Instead, we focused on raising money not to waste our resources on postal fees. We organized garage sales, book sales, and fund raisers. With the help of an amazing volunteer in Kazakhstan, Max, who visits the orphanage, asks for what the kids needed, and then supervises how the money is spent, we are sure that every dollar is used on the kids' needs - to buy food, medication, diapers, and other important essentials requested by the orphanage. In the last two projects, we raised enough money to help the orphanage change the carpet on the second floor and install a new accessibility ramp. We established a routine and continue to grow, expanding our help to orphans in Kazakhstan and donating money to kids in Ukraine.
I started with just two people and grew the team to eight active members and the liaison people in Kazakhstan. We did not run toy or clothes drives any more. Instead, we focused on raising money not to waste our resources on postal fees. We organized garage sales, book sales, and fund raisers. With the help of an amazing volunteer in Kazakhstan, Max, who visits the orphanage, asks for what the kids needed, and then supervises how the money is spent, we are sure that every dollar is used on the kids' needs - to buy food, medication, diapers, and other important essentials requested by the orphanage. In the last two projects, we raised enough money to help the orphanage change the carpet on the second floor and install a new accessibility ramp. We established a routine and continue to grow, expanding our help to orphans in Kazakhstan and donating money to kids in Ukraine.
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Shchuchinsk Babyhouse
The babyhouse in Shchuchinsk was established in 1946, right after the end of World War II and originally had three children. In 1979, it moved to a new building holding 50 places. During all these 70 years, 2400 orphans where taken care of in the orphanage. Today, 37 babies, from birth to 3 years old live in the babyhouse. Babies who require special medical care can stay in the house until the age of four.
Not all the children living in the babyhouse are orphans. Some children are placed in the babyhouse under the program “Nadezhda,” which translates as hope. These children are seriously ill since birth, and their parents can’t afford taking care of them at home. These children live in the orphanage until they turn four years old, and their parents are required to sign the patronage papers every six months. There are also some babies whose parents are deprived of parental rights and are placed under the government protection. Unfortunately, a very small number of children is healthy. Half of the kids have serious medical conditions and many more have minor health issues. In general, the babyhouse has wonderful living conditions compared to other orphanages. Every child has a separate wooden bed and many toys to play with. The orphanage even has several intensive care units for seriously ill infants. Even though the babyhouse is very well managed, 86 people are working in it, it’s heartbreaking to see all these precious little kids whose parents don’t want them since their first day of life. The babyhouse seems to be an ideal place for children, but it can never replace home. And every child is dreaming of going home with a woman he or she can call “mother.” |
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