By Andy Baker
Friends,
Accreditation is important to us. We submit our 990’s to Guidestar.org for public review, and we submit to an annual audit that is then reviewed by the ECFA to make sure we are following appropriate procedures in governance and financial accountability. We are a member in good standing with the ECFA and you can review their accreditation policies at ECFA.org. We are presently in our audit for 2021, and a full report will be available in the coming weeks for 2021. Because you have partnered with us for Ukraine you will automatically receive one in the coming weeks.
Yesterday was a crazy day with so much taking place. I was in contact with another non-profit that ships food packages to organizations feeding people in crisis. We are looking for ways to get supplemental food to the border to assist with our feeding program as food costs have increased in Romania 100% over the last three months. We also talked with another non-profit that is shipping gently used clothes around the world. We have asked them to help us with our new friends from Ukraine, as most of the people left with only the clothes they were wearing. With this said, please do NOT ask me to receive food donations or clothing donations. I do ask that you look for places in your community that might be doing this and donate there.
Nikolai and his Family
Thursday we lost a member of our team with our partnership with Mulberry International. He had left his underground safety area with three other men to gather food for those that were in hiding. Nikolai Semykin and his friends were on their way back to their hiding place when a Russian mortar hit their car. They were in the city of Mariupol where there has been extreme fighting. This has hit us hard, and has made this tragic war real for us. He leaves behind a wife and three children. Our colleagues have lost connection with his family and at this writing, we are unsure of their fate.
I received a call Thursday from a prison in Texas. They have a group of inmates that make quilts, and they were looking for a way to help with the Ukrainian crisis. After a brief conversation, I left my details with the program coordinator, and soon quilts will be shipped to our partners working along the border to hand out to the refugees as they cross.
I received a call from a dear friend on Thursday from Romania. He was asking Remember the Children to partner with him in opening another refugee center in another city in western Romania. We agreed to help with this project, and we received a substantial grant from a foundation in Ohio to fund the operations for the next four months. We have already received 109 refugees at this center that are being housed in a private school that has been loaned to us to use for this purpose.
The war is becoming real to us daily. We have over 100 refugees in permanent placement with us due to a lack of documents regarding their identity, or they are simply too old and frail to move on. We also have 78 Ukrainian orphans in our care that is presently a permanent situation for us. The reality for us is that we are caring for close to 200 more people daily, and this has happened in two weeks. Through your generosity, we are going to be fine for the next few months, but I ask you honestly if you might consider joining us with a monthly gift of $35. This will help us provide care for one person for five days. I thank you for this consideration.
Thank you for being a part of a solution for the Ukrainian people. As of yesterday, we have temporarily housed 1,100 refugees for multiple nights, fed 6,500 refugees at the border, and sent multiple trucks and vans of humanitarian and medical aid back into Ukraine.
If you are connected to us on social media, please check out our pages on Facebook and Instagram (Remember the Children). As pictures arrive that we can post, we are doing frequent updates there.
Thank you for your partnership!
Blessings!