Happy New Year, we hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. We are excited for this New Year and this new opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of those living in extremely difficult situations. Life in Belarus is very difficult given this current economy and even more so in the Chausy region which is still feeling the effects of the Chernobyl disaster 30 years on! We are continuing our successful programs in support of children, orphans, families with children deemed “invalid” and destitute seniors. We are also moving forward with our newest initiative, a “Rescue Home for Children” which we hope to have purchased during this year. Please read on to find out all of our plans for this year and see if there is a project that strikes a chord with you. Thank you for your support.

Eric McKenzie

on behalf of Dave Shaw – Humanitarian and Orphan Initiatives

Rescue Home for Children – New Initiative

Many children continue to live in dangerous family or foster family situations, but living in an institutional orphanage environment is not an option.

CAC, in partnership with the Chausy Administration, is in the process of establishing a rescue home in the Town of Chausy. The concept is to purchase a property and hire a long-term house Mom who would nurture and care for several children of various ages. The children would have the advantage of living in a loving family environment while attending regular public school and would have access to extra curricular activities.

The Malcomson family has committed the funds for the purchase of the property, which we hope, will be completed in 2016. Funds for renovations and furnishings are needed.

$15,000 – $20,000 USD needed

Containers

CAC currently has enough humanitarian aid to fill 3 transport containers for this spring, provided the funds are raised. The containers will consist of food and parcels for a targeted 800 families including seniors on small pensions and impoverished families and families with disabled children. In addition, we hope to raise enough funds for hygiene products for impoverished families, orphans, abused / neglected children, disabled children and adults. Also 800 shoes boxes for seniors, gift boxes for orphans, hand made quilts, clothing, footwear, wheelchairs and walkers

$25,800 needed (Overseas and inland shipping)

Food Boxes

Canadian Aid for Chernobyl has launched our 15th annual food box drive; providing 50lbs of staple food products to seniors on minimal pensions, single mothers or families on social assistance, families with invalid children. Last year, we hand delivered 600 food boxes.
These boxes are genuinely appreciated and will be hand-delivered by our self-funded volunteers in April when families’ preserves are depleted.

We hope to provide food to more than 650 families!

$32,500 needed

Family Boxes

In addition to the food boxes, CAC delegates will deliver more than 400 humanitarian boxes from Canadian families to families living in the contaminated regions. In the past, families throughout Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes have sent parcels through CAC for safe distribution.

Chausy Regional Department of Education

CAC has entered into an agreement to help provide laptop computers, sports equipment and education supplies.

$10,000 needed

Chausy Regional Hospital

CAC entered into a two year agreement with the Chausy Authorities and Don and Shirley Green’s Family Foundation to renovate both the sterilization room and the emergency rooms. These rooms are in desperate need of repair and upgrade.

2014 – Sterilization Room – Complete

CAC/Green Family commitment $20,000
Chausy Authorities commitment $20,000

2015 – Emergency Rooms – Complete

CAC/Green Family commitment $20,000
Chausy Authorities commitment $20,000

Thank you to Don and Shirley Green and the Green Family Foundation for sponsoring yet another successful partnership.

Orphan Initiatives:

Chausy Orphanage – Child Rescue Program

Currently there are 80 children living at the Chausy Orphanage. Of those, 26 are orphans and the other 54 have been rescued from difficult situations by CAC thanks to generous donations through our auction gala. This is the first “foreign” agreement for sponsorship of children living in an orphanage in the history of Belarus!

Funds are still required for food, clothing, footwear and hygiene products for the children.

$15,000 needed

Orphanage Mini-Bus – URGENT

Several years ago, CAC purchased a mini-bus to transport children to medical appointments, competitions and most importantly it is used in the rescue of children living in difficult family situations, particularly from rural and remote villages.

The current mini-bus is completely worn out and in desperate need of replacement

$20,000 needed – Used ~ OR ~ $35,000 needed – New

Orphanage Library, Books and Magazines

Over the last 10 years, CAC has partnered with a number of elementary schools in Leeds and Grenville, providing orphanages with several thousand new hard cover books for education and personal enjoyment.

This year CAC has partnered with the Canadian International School of Hefei in China in a program called “Building Libraries through Literacy” developed by Riley Shaw.

$4,300 Raised

Chausy Orphanage – Student Projects Internet / Yearbook / Videos

The goals of this initiative is to work with the students at the Chausy Orphanage School to improve their technical skills, celebrate the students’ successes and build their self-esteem. The last 5 years school yearbooks were a huge success. The students, school director and staff remain keen to continue producing keepsake yearbooks. Students from Belarus and Canada are working hard together as a team to produce the 2015/2016 yearbook. CAC has introduced the children to the worldwide web and this initiative will maintain the Internet connection to the school and expand student use of email and the web.

$3,300 USD needed

Chausy Orphanage – Agricultural Program

After years of operating the Chausy Orphanage with critical food shortage in late winter and early spring, in 2005, Canadian Aid for Chernobyl introduced the Agricultural Program. Through the support of our donors, we provided the machinery, equipment and seeds needed to harvest sufficient potatoes and various vegetables for the entire year. In fact, for the last six harvests they have yielded a surplus and the children took their produce to market.
In 2010, we appealed to our supporters to help us expand this program and we built a state of the art poultry barn and delivered it to the orphanage in April 2011. What a success! The hens are yielding 90 eggs a day, and the orphanage is raising its 3rd round of 50 broilers! In 2013, we successfully introduced pork into our Agricultural Program, building a small structure suitable for 6 -8 young pigs. Thank you to David and Anne Beatty for funding this program in 2015.

Funds needed to support our agricultural program: providing feed for the layers, broilers and pigs, crop fertilizer, fuel and machinery maintenance.

$9,500 needed

Music Program

CAC has been developing and supporting the Music Program in the Orphanage for more than 11 years. In the Spring of 2013, we expanded this program to introduce acoustic guitars, electric guitars, electric bass guitars, drum sets, tambourines, song books etc. In addition we took several instructors with us and it was a tremendous success.

This program continues to be popular with the children at the orphanage and does not require further funding for 2016

Malcomson Home for Family Living

In September 2008, CAC initiated an agreement between the Department of Education, the Chausy Orphanage, the Department of Humanitarian Aid and CAC to construct a house on the orphanage property. This “home” was completed in 2009 and provides the opportunity for orphaned and abused children to experience family life and develop skills in family structure and finance. They learn to purchase and prepare meals, care for a home, do their laundry and enjoy life as a family. The house sleeps 6 students and one supervisor. Until now, the graduating kids leave the orphanage with no family skills, no understanding of money management, no experience at food preparation or how to live in a healthy family environment.
CAC has received numerous letters from the children who enjoy the house and are deeply motivated to strive for a better future and have enjoyed a positive taste for family living. They are having a blast!!

Special thanks to the Malcomson Family.

This year CAC will replace the beds as well as general household maintenance and upgrades.

$3,000 USD needed

Chausy Orphanage Wish list

To be purchased in Belarus

School supplies
Printer cartridges
Internet support
Educational Books
Medicines

Repairs and maintenance

Bedroom renovations
Washroom repairs
Cafeteria Kitchen Renovation

$20,000 USD needed

Other

Skates and Skate laces
Hockey Gloves
Running/sport/cross country shoes
Soccer balls
Basketballs
Volleyballs
Paper napkins
Hygiene products
Greenhouse plastic

$5,000 needed

Initiatives for the Physically, Mentally and Medically Challenged

Guardian Angel Program

The Guardian Angel Program is an ongoing program that deals with children/young adults in the Chausy Region of Belarus who have been labelled “Invalid” because of some physical/emotional/intellectual challenge. This label has often had them treated as undesirables.

Our main objective is to ease their situation in any way. Helping caregivers by making their days in any way easier and they themselves feel more significant/valued/cared for, can often give some hope and sense of significance. Clothing, food, transportation, ambulatory devices (wheelchairs, etc.) are just some of the things and services we try to provide for those who struggle.

At this time we have 150 families registered in this program

$8,000 USD needed

Invalid Children Support

Canadian Aid for Chernobyl has once again partnered with the Rotary Club of Brockville and Rotary Club of 1000 Islands and families with disabled children: providing a medical fund of $5,000 to be used for medicines, medical supplies, surgery or improvement to quality of life.
There are 150 families with physically, mentally or medically challenged children currently registered! Thank you Rotarians for making a tremendous difference in the lives of these children!

$5,000 Rotary

Social Workshop for Invalid Children and Young Adults

In 2014 CAC announced the grand opening of the areas first Social Workshop for children and young adults with physical and mental challenges. Located in the center of Chausy in a former school, it offers a classroom environment and interaction with regular children. This is a wonderful opportunity to support our vision to integrate children with challenges into society. Our kids are busy making crafts, carving wood, sewing as well as selling their creations at local markets and fairs. CAC is responsible for the classroom expenses, heat and electricity. The city authorities are responsible for providing the psychologist.

$5,350 needed

Storage area

CAC has agreed to continue our financial support to the Organization of Invalid Children to allow them to operate their distribution of humanitarian aid from a small storage room. CAC pays for the rent, electrical and minimal heat.

$1,500 needed

Shoeboxes For Seniors

Many seniors living in the affected regions of rural Belarus are destitute and lacking in basic hygiene items.

The Shoeboxes for Seniors committee has been in full swing packing and receiving products, since early spring, for our delivery in April. Over 600 boxes have been lovingly packed with essential items; toothbrushes, paste, soap, hand creams, small towels etc. These boxes are hand delivered by Social Service and are overwhelmingly accepted. Spearheaded by Mary Bernard.

Target = 900 Shoeboxes

Quilts for Chernobyl

Once again, our quilters have been hard at work creating beautiful hand-made quilts for our orphans and impoverished children. This April, we will have the pleasure of presenting over 200 quilts … lots of excited and happy children. What a wonderful gift for a child!

Spearheaded by Mary Bernard.

Thanks for reviewing our initiatives and feel free to help us raise these funds for these important projects anyway you can. Share this with family and friends, click on the “Fundraise Now” button to start your own fundraising campaign, click the “donate now” button, mail us a cheque or drop off a donation at Alan Brown’s in downtown Brockville. With your continued support, we are making a difference, together!