What You Can Do

I've had several people ask me what they can do to help give these orphans in Ukraine a hope and future.  Resources for them are thin.  Fortunately, I've had the chance to get to know Ben and Angela with SOS Mission.  They are from Australia.  Their focus here in the Donetsk region is to help prepare teens for life outside the orphanage.  It's a very rough transition.  As bad as life in the orphanage is, it's exponentially worse in the trade schools.  If you visit SOS Mission's facebook page you'll find a recent article, translated to English, describing what life is like for these children.  It's just unthinkable.  Ben and Angela do what they can to educate the soon-to-graduate kids so they can weather the storm and stay away from the most common pitfalls.  Uglegorsk is one of the orphanages that Ben and Angela routinely visit.  You can learn more about their work on the SOS Mission facebook page.  If you'd like to support the work that they are doing, you can make a donation to SOS Mission.  They have an account with Bank of America.  You can go to any BoA branch and deposit cash or write a check to their account.  You have my word that the money will be spent wisely.

From Ben: 
Max (the director at SOS Mission) has an account with the Bank of America. Account number 46248795 in the name of Maksym Kolosov. If someone makes a donation ask them to write "Jocelyn" in the description and send a message to SOS Mission over Facebook so we can identify it and allocate it to the kids at Uglegorsk.

You could also give to Ukrainian Resource Center (URC).  This is the American organization that we used to help facilitate our adoption.  They also run a hosting program and provide financial assistance for families wanting to adopt.  Ukrainian Resource Center

I do not recommend sending money directly to the orphanages.  There is little accountability and no guarantee that the money would go towards helping the kids.  It's tricky to get these kids the help they so desperately need.

If you really feel called, of course you can host an orphan through URC, or consider adoption.  I'd love to talk with you if you have questions about either of those possibilities.