"The Ukraine Health Care Project, started with only hope, a vision and no funds. I am proud to say that over the past five years the Foundation has provided over $53,000 in health care and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine."
- USUF President Nadia McConnell, December 2002

Western Ukraine Disaster Assistance Fund

You may remember that in 2008, Western Ukraine was ravaged by floods.  At that time, the Ukraine Disaster Assistance Fund was created by a coalition of organizations, including the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, Ukrainian Federation of America, Ukrainian American Coordinating Council (UACC), and U.S.-Ukraine Business Council to provide some form of assistance to this affected area.

In 2008 and 2009, nearly $40,000 was raised.

During 2010, the coalition decided to aid a community that was particularly hard hit by the floods, and that village was Holovetsko. What was needed was a large bus, to service the Holovetsko village school, as well as eight nearby villages in the Stariy Sambir District: Ripiano, Dnistryk, Smerichka, Babyno, Hrozovo, Vytsiv, Mshanets, and Hvozdets.

Representatives of the coalition worked directly with Ivan Haiduk, principal of the Holovestko school, regarding the purchase of the bus, which would be approved by the Ministry of Education.  The bus was purchased and it now serves over 200 students.

While the bus is officially owned by the Department of Education of the Executive Council of the Stariy Sambir District, Lviv Oblast, the Holovetsko School is in charge of the use of the bus to meet the needs of their students.  The local Department of Education will provide financing for the bus maintenance, gasoline and the bus driver who will be on their payroll.

And there is more good news . . .  not all the Disaster Assistance Funds have been spent. Funds remaining are to go for other Holovetsko village school needs, either for equipment, facility improvement, etc. 

In addition to the Disaster Assistance Funds, the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council directly donated $3,000 to the school for the purchase of school furniture.

Finally, we wish to thank the Polish-Ukrainian Cooperation Foundation (PAUCI) for their on-the-ground assistance in handling the bus purchase.

Gift from William T. Kemper Foundation assists Kharkiv soup kitchen

In September 2002, the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation received a gift of $1,000 from the Willaim T. Kemper Foundation of Kansas City, MO to assist with the expenses associated with the operation of a soup kitchen in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

The Foundation is grateful to the William T. Kemper Foundation for this generous help.

 

Rapid Test & Treatment Program of HIV/AIDS for the Military of Ukraine
400 HIV rapid testing kits were donated to the Embassy of Ukraine for the Ukrainian military. Ukraine's rate of HIV infection doubled between 1999 & 2000. While originally limited to high risk areas, such as ports on the Black Sea, cases are now reported in all 25 Ukrainian oblasts and estimates range as high as 1% of the population. The donation of the kits were provided by Expanding Abroad, Inc.

USUF sponsors heart specialist, Julian Kiyak
In July 2002, USUF sponsored Julian Kiyak's paper "Myocardial Hibernation as a Cause of Heart Failure in Acute Myocardian Infarction." This paper was selected for publication in the proceedings of the 8th World Congress on Heart Failure.

In July 2001, USUF also gave $1,000 to assist Dr. Kyak to attend the 2nd International Congress on Heart Disease in Washington, DC.

USUF helps the children of Ternopil
With over $5,000 in funding from the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, the Street Children Project of the Ternopil Charitable Foundation (Caritas) provided material and social support, health treatment services, and cultural enrichment programs to the poor children of Ternopil and the raions of Ternopil, Zbarazh, and Terebovlya in late 2001.

Aid to families of Krasnodon miners

The coal mining disaster that occurred on March 11, 2000 in the city of Krasnodon in eastern Ukraine tragically took the lives of more than 80 miners. The accident left over 125 children, of whom 71 are under the age of 15, fatherless.

Upon hearing of the disaster, the Foundation initiated a national campaign to collect funds which could be passed on through contacts established by USUF’s Krasnodon-Birmingham CPP partnership. In total, the Foundation's total direct financial aid exceeded $13,000.

USUF Health Care Program Collaborates with University of South Alabama
In October 2000, The U.S.-Ukraine Foundation's Health Care Program began collaboration with the Ukrainian-American Birth Defects Program (UABDP) of the University of South Alabama. This USAID-sponsored project has three aims:

• To establish a birth defects surveillance system based on international standards;
• To contribute to the better care and prevention of birth defects; and,
• To contribute to the creation of a Ukrainian Alliance for the Prevention of Birth Defects.

USUF supports "Ukrainian Central Caritas"

Children at an orphanage sport smocks made by students of Drohobych sewing course

Altogether, between December 1997 and 1999, USUF delivered over $32,000 to Caritas to finance three projects in western Ukraine: equipment for a soup kitchen in Sosnivka, medical equipment for a children's rehabilitation center in Chortkiv, and sewing courses in Drohobych.

Health assistance
In November 1999, the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation made a charitable contribution to the Cardio Foundation in Lviv for the purpose of assisting in the development of cardiac surgery.