Meet our sponsored child: Natasha Savenko.

In 2004, in a rural Ukrainian orphanage our team met Natasha, a 10 y.o. orphan. She was a sad girl, did not know her biological parents and did not have any relatives or siblings. We knew that without outside help – Natasha was waiting to join the sad statistics of orphanage graduates in Ukraine. We immediately enrolled Natasha into our sponsorship program. Fortunately, her first sponsor from Arizona chose her fairly quickly and then another sponsor joined forces to help Natasha. Because of their sponsorship, Natalia was able to thrive, stay in school and focus on personal development and be as happy as a child in an orphanage can be. She knew she was not alone and that some people in far-away America cared for her and wanted to support her needs. Upon graduation from her orphanage she was strong, confident and academically prepared to enter a college and then Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design! Very few orphanage graduates in Ukraine could do that! Natasha graduated from that university with a Bachelor’s Degree with Honors and pursued a successful career in fashion design. Natasha travelled the world as she was chosen to participate in many international conferences, to include Finland, Georgia, Sweden and Poland. And she was hosted by her first sponsor in Arizona too.

Today Natasha remains in Ukraine, continues her professional growth and gives back through volunteer work with orphans sharing her own experiences on how to overcome challenges by providing empowerment programs with valuable life and job skills training.

Now, with Russia bombarding Ukraine with missiles, shutting down what little infrastructure it has, more children will become orphans continuing the cycle of poverty throughout the country.

Your sponsorship will help break the cycle and provide opportunities they would not otherwise have.