Please help us Give Ukrainian Orphans a Chance! Since the invasion on February 24, 2022, Ukrainian children’s perspectives have been forever altered, and the traumatic impact has been even greater on the country’s orphans. Over the past 2 ½ years, the number of orphans in Ukraine has grown from 100,000 to a staggering 165,000 children, many of whom suffer from PTSD. Adding to the trauma is the lack of resources orphanages face: The Ukraine child welfare system is so overburdened, orphans are lucky to get a shower once a week and possess so little that everything they own in this world could fit into a carryon bag. All the funds raised by this campaign will go to support Ukrainian orphanages in their year-round expenses with food, clothes, medicine, facility maintenance and other basic necessities - click "Donate Now!" to help.

Why do Ukrainian orphans need our help?
There are more than 750 orphanages, boarding schools and institutions in Ukraine where close to 165,000 orphans live. This sector of the child welfare system has long been overtaxed, and since the invasion, resources are sparse. Because orphans don’t grow up with the model of a normal family life or with the love of dedicated parents, they usually don’t have the social skills needed to operate in society after aging out of the system. That is why Natalia seeks out foster families to help, as they provide the best chance for orphans to succeed. It is estimated that 10% of orphans who age out of the system will commit suicide, that many of the girls will turn to prostitution and the boys to crime.

What kind of help do we provide?

Thus far, the majority of the purchases made have been for basic necessities like food, clothes and shoes, medicine, cleaning and personal hygiene supplies, and learning supplies. Purchases are carefully sourced: Natalia was able to buy 130 pairs of good quality shoes at $15 each for a total of $1,950. Fred is shipping i7 Win10 large screen laptop computers to a number of orphanages with older children, so that they have the opportunity to learn how to use them. “They need to be computer savvy in this day and age to better reintegrate into society,” says Fred. Often, infrastructure work is needed. Natalia and Fred have helped purchase a water pump for an orphanage in Mukachevo. They plan to use funds raised this fall to expand this portion of their work.

How do we identify who to help and how?

As you can imagine, the need far exceeds what one small nonprofit can provide, but we do what we can wherever we can. Natalia goes to orphanages, talks with the directors, asks them what they need and then assesses, firsthand, the critical nature of the need. As noted above, she also seeks out foster families she can help with supplies. If she deems it a valid need, she runs the request by Fred and, once approved, she either sources the supplies locally or Fred sends them from the U.S.

Next steps:

Please click the “Give Orphans a Chance!” button to support this cause with any debit or credit card, GooglePay, or PayPal, and track the progress of this fundraiser on this web page. This page will also show your name and your contribution, or you can choose to donate anonymously. Once you complete your donation, you will be prompted to share this campaign on social media—please consider doing so and adding a personal note for your friends.

THE STORY OF THE PROJECT

Meet Fredrick Solheim, the person behind “Give Orphans a Chance.” Fred holds advanced degrees in Physics. He founded and operates the nonprofit, Warriors on Cataract, which takes disabled veterans on therapeutic multi-day whitewater raft trips. He is on contract to the Department of Defense Office of Naval Research to develop shipboard hardware. Solheim feels strongly that Ukraine needs to win this war and strongly supports this goal..

Fred learned of the growing orphan crisis in the fall of 2023 and decided to do something to improve the lives of at least some of these children. He began raising funds and matched funds raised with his own contributions. He asked a fellow Sunflower Seeds Ukraine volunteer to connect him with someone in Ukraine whom he trusted. Slava introduced Fred to his sister-in-law, Natalia, and they got to work. Within two months, Natalia and a team of friends was able to collect St. Nicholas letters from close to 200 orphans and orphans of war, buy and wrap gifts to fulfill their wishes, and distribute the gifts to the children on St. Nicholas Day (Mykolai, the day Ukrainian children receive gifts during the Christmas season).

Since then, Fred and Natalia have spread seeds of help to hundreds of orphans in more than a dozen orphanages and foster homes throughout Ukraine. Their work has touched the lives of orphans in the Mukachevo, Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions, in the Bilotserkivsky and Khustskyi districts, and in the frontline city of Sumy, where there is an orphanage for 30 young children from newborns to 3 years of age. Their initiative is 100% grassroots: Natalia connects with the orphanages to find out what they need, and then Fred raises and matches funds, so that Natalia can source the clothes, food, baby food, formula, medicine and other necessities orphanage directors request.

This past spring, Natalia learned of a rehabilitation center for orphans with disabilities. When she reached out to ask the center’s administrators about their needs, they told her that every year on Children's Protection Day (June 1), they organize a celebration for their 50 pupils and that they needed something special to give the children on that day. When Natalia asked what they had in mind, the center requested sweets for the celebration and money to fix the Combi Steam Oven it uses to cook for the children. Total spent for treats: $180; cost to fix the oven, $1,000. A small price for the joy of a treat and the ability to prepare meals for this vulnerable population.

Who we are:

Sunflower Seeds Ukraine is an all-volunteer organization that responds flexibly and efficiently to the most urgent needs in the hottest war zones in Ukraine. We stay agile due to our small size, multinational team, and direct on-site contacts that we developed in 2014-2015, and adapted to the new realities in 2022. Working with small grassroots organizations like ours is one of the most direct ways to help Ukraine. Give now by clicking the “Give Orphans a Chance” button above.

More information:

The mission of Sunflower Seeds Ukraine is to save lives by providing medical aid and protective gear to small groups of defenders at the front lines, and humanitarian assistance to affected civilians. For frequent updates about our efforts to save lives in Ukraine please like our Facebook page and follow our Instagram account.

Thank you for helping the kids affected by the war in Ukraine!

Sunflower Seeds Ukraine

Spread Seeds of Help

Give Ukrainian Orphans a Chance!

By Sunflower Seeds Ukraine

Give Ukrainian Orphans a Chance!

The goal of this project is to support Ukrainian orphanages in their year-round expenses with food, clothes, medicine, facility maintenance and other basic necessities. To Give Ukrainian Orphans a Chance - click "Donate Now!""

Team Members