OK Folks! We REALLY Need Your Help!

This morning I am reaching out to you-- my friends, my co-horts in adoption, my family members and my bloggy readers-- for help with something very important and very close to my heart!

This Saturday July 23rd, just four short days away, a group of 15 amazing children looking for a family are coming to the United States from the Ukraine.  These are children who range in age from 5-13 who have lived their entire lives in orphanages, and now through the help of a group called Redline United, they have the hope of finding families to love them and call them their own.

Each of these children, or sibling groups, get assigned a "host family" for the three weeks that they are here-- July 23 thru August 13th.  Each of the host families pays for the costs associated with getting the child they are hosting here to the US-- plane tickets, passports, etc.  The total cost for this is $2750.

Redline's mission with each of these children is to find them a home first and foremost.  It could ultimately be with the family who hosts them, or a different family whom they meet through one of many activities and informational meetings they set up throughout the weeks.  Last year ALL of the 16 children who were hosted found families!!!!  All of them have been adopted already or are in the process of being adopted!!  Amazing.

Well this year there are 15 children coming, and all but one of them have host families.
Just one child, sweet 13 year old Vanya, is without a family to stay with here in the US.

Can you help us find him a host family???

The program is held in the Raleigh, NC area but you don't even have to live there to host this precious boy!  You can live anywhere in the United States.  Living in this area would give him access to the three week camp and activities, but their primary objective is to find this child a permanent home after camp is over, so they are open to host families anywhere.

The main deterrent for many families in hosting is of course the cost. 

Can you help Vanya find a host family by donating what you can to help cover his hosting fee??

I am setting up a chip-in on the side of my blog for donations.  Please, please consider donating!!  Every little bit can add up for this child!!!

Donations toward his hosting can also be made on the Redline website (so that they are tax deductible) at http://www.redlineunited.org/donate/family-assistance-2/ with "Vanya hosting" in the memo, or checks can be made out to Redline United with the same (mailed to PO Box 31045, Raleigh, NC 27622-1045).

So Come On Everyone!!!  $2750 is not that much when divided up between many!!!  We can do this!!!  God can do this!  This child needs this opportunity to find a family of his own.  He needs to be able to come to the US with the other children and know what being in a family feels like.  Let's help him to have a CHANCE!

Please help by donating if you can!!!

Below is a little about Vanya, and the program, sent to me by one of the program's coordinators Amanda Devore:

"Vanya is 13 years old.  He is a quiet and sweet young man and is the oldest of all the children coming for the hosting program.  He lives in a poor rural orphanage in the Crimea region of Ukraine and has been in the orphanage system for at least 3 years. 

Redline United has been doing mission work in Ukraine since July 2007.  Our key focus has been to bring the love of Christ to orphans that are otherwise alone in the world.  We fell in love with these children and wanted to be a part of God's plan to place these lonely children into loving families (Psalm 68:6).  Last year we brought 16 children to Raleigh, NC to be hosted for a three week trip of a lifetime with a family.  While the children are here they get to learn about Jesus in our vacation Bible school camp, take English lessons, visit doctors, and experience things they could have never imagined -- like seeing the ocean for the first time and riding a bike.  The best part of the experience for them, is getting to be a part of a family - for some of them it's their first time.  This year we are bringing 15 more children.  We are hopeful that while the children are here we may be able to introduce them to a forever family!"

We helped out with this program last year and got to meet all the incredible children who came to the US last summer. Let me just say, it changed our lives and the lives of our children.  We only got to assist with this camp for two days, and that was all it took to open our hearts and our children's hearts to the plight of the orphan.  Our kids got to see that those children were just like them!  They loved to play, have fun and learn.  And they wanted the love of a family.  It was a major catalyst as well in spurring us on towards the adoption of older children.

Let's help Vanya know the love of a family.  Give him the opportunity to be one less orphan in this world.  Please.