Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.  

As many of you know, I volunteer for the charity in the Portsmouth/Chichester area.  We raise fund and bring children to the UK, from Ukraine, for recuperation from the the radiation (from the Chernobyl disaster the iz still in high levels in their small town) and extreme poverty.  

Covid paused this after we were forced to put some Ukrainian children in lockdown with us in March 2020.  When they had returned home no more children have been able to come due to covid.

As you are all now aware, Ukraine is now in a more deadly position.  The charity as a whole wants to get ourselves prepared to make sure that as soon as it is safe to do so that we get as many children here for recuperation as possible.  It is not only the radiation and poverty that we have been bringing them over for (extending their life expectancy) but now the impacts of the conflict.

Historically the children come to the UK for 28 days and return home healthier, full of colour and in most cases, having grown a lot!!  We volunteer and house the children in our own homes at our own cost during this time.  Due to the amazing businesses around us we are usually able to get free admission to attractions to make their stay a magical time.

Due to the current situation, we are ramping up fundraising that was slowed during the pandemic so that we are ready to bring children as soon as we can.  Usually we bring a small group due to the lack of volunteers to host the children, but now it's even more vital to get as many as we can over for the 28 days.  The money we raise pays for the flights (it maybe a different method, we don't know at this point), visas, health checks, insurance, preparation meetings (coming to the UK is a massive shock to them as they live a very different life so they are prepared in meetings) and other transport and essential costs.  I have set my target at a very optimistic £8,000, which should get us atleast 10 children and an interpreter (usually as English teacher from their town).  We know this is a big target but it would be amazing if we could do it.  We currently only have around £700 due to not being able to fundraise for some time.  We will also shortly be holding a fundraising evening with the fantastic Jenny Docherty too, so keep an eye on my FB page!

Anything you can donate would be amazing, please only donate if you can afford to.

Please pray for these children, families and the Ukrainian nation.

With love from Jo, Nita, Marian Stapley (who has jumped back on board to help) and from all of the Ukrianian children their families and the town of Borodyanka in Ukraine.

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