EASTERN EUROPE POLAND

jerekIt is our mission to provide children living in Eastern European orphanages, or centers with medical and wellness services.  These services include:
proper food
childhood vaccinations
care for children with acute and chronic illnesses
preventative care
hygiene and wellness supplies
emergency relief
Prior to establishing AORF, we saw firsthand the dire living conditions in orphanages throughout Poland. At The Care and Education Centers, too many children suffer from chronic and acute illnesses. These children need far more care than the Centers can afford, including medical treatments and supervision, drugs, and attention from a variety of medical specialists.We have been compelled to support the Centers while establishing AORF to help orphaned children abroad with similar needs. We’ve worked with a pharmaceutical company to provide a necessary drug to a child with cystic fibrosis. We’ve provided a year’s worth of food to a special needs child. We’ve also coordinated the provision and delivery of few hundred pounds of medications for other special needs children at the Centers. These medications included oral and IV antibiotics for infections, inhalers for asthma, and medications for eczema and contact dermatitis.One of the Centers is home to 140 children ages 0 through seven, with approximately 35 to 40 children under two years of age. Many children at the Center have serious untreated medical needs; all of the children urgently need essential supplies for hygiene and wellness.The children at the centers are among the most underserved children in Poland. The Center receives only 700 zlotych ($245 USD) a month per child to cover all of their living expenses: food, clothing, diapers, hygiene and wellness supplies, medications, toys, and education. The Center’s director and caretakers tend to each child, providing as much attention as they can. However, the funding they receive does not begin to address their needs. All too often, the cost of medications alone can quickly deplete a child’s funds for any number of months. Unfortunately, this funding is not nearly enough to provide the most basic needs of a child. Our goal is to change that statistic.Poland is home to some 150,000 children who live away from their homes and their parents — the highest number in Central Europe. More than 90 percent of these children are social orphans whose parents are unable to care for them. Nearly 11 percent of the population struggles with unemployment while approximately 24 percent of Polish residents live below the poverty line. In the region of Slask, the average gross monthly salary in 2008 was approximately $1175 USD — not enough to support a family of four, particularly when caring for a child with special needs.

The donations we request will improve the comfort and well-being of these children while alleviating their need to spend sorely limited funds on such necessities. These products will help eliminate some of the basic discomforts of childhood at the Center.  With your support, we hope to fulfill this critical need.

With much-needed assistance from our donors, AORF will do far more for underserved children in Eastern Europe and Poland.