You take the Good and you take the Bad ....

Many of you sponsor children and seniors through the iam1ru sponsorship program. These funds are used to provide the extras in life for the kids... Most of the time, extras are defined as School clothes and supplies, tutors, dance lessons, special outings, but some times they are stretched to include medicine and glasses... but since the economic crisis, what is deemed as "extras" have started to disturb me.... "Extra" should not have to include basic clothes and food.... but now ever more increasingly it does... Then today I got word that with the first snow in the mountains came a panic call from the orphanage director.... Many people have promised to help them with coal this winter, but so far, the furnace still sits idle.... We now find the budget needs to be stretched just a little further... I made a few calls and have diverted a half load (5 tons) of coal to them. just under $500.. this will hold them for about 6 weeks... hopefully those that had promised to help step up to the plate....and soon..

The baby hospital has just received the new washing machine... pictures to follow... I forgot to leave Vlady a camera, so I will have to send Sergey over.... Tomorrow they will be picking up the soap for them. They are still experiencing a back log of kids there as the system is backing up... the hospital is caring for 5 babies now..with no budget... This appears to be coming in at about $50 a week for formula... some how we have been able to keep up with this, but not sure how... I guess when you consider the options you just make it happen... A new born needs more then flower and water !

I got a bit more disturbing news this morning... The lady that we found on the streets, the mother of a young friend... has been put out of the hospital,, she is infectious with TB, and the hospital does not want to keep her because she had been homeless.. They say she is better now, but we have the xrays to prove otherwise... Dr Tatyana has been calling the hospital to try to get her back in, but they will not take her calls .. If she is not excepted back into the hospital by my morning, I will be calling the Mayors office ..

On an up note.. I have realised that we don't need to do it all, some times all it takes is some one to put there shoulder to the plow and say we are going to get this thing rolling, and it is amazing what can happen... When we started the heating system in the seniors home, we knew we did not have all the funds necessary, but we had the hope.... We told the director we would get things started, but would have to rely on others to be moved and to help us out...

I just found out that this has happened.. our friends have just sent word that they have received sponsorship to be able to see this project completed... Not only that, but they have renovated a meal room at the hospital, and have committed to finding the funding to put in the new floors in the hospital ... This is something that I was hoping to do in the spring... It is such an encouragement when others come along side like this...

more good news, We just sent money over for Tuition for Larisa's daughter, to renovate at the outreach centre in the village, for English lessons for some of the sponsored kids, and to finish the house that was in such bad shape. Oh Ya and to pay part of my Internet bill....

Stay tuned in the next couple days, I will have the finishing touches on this years Christmas challenge... I am sure that many of you are going to want to be a part of this and have a little fun while you are at it....