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Winter 2003
GROWING SUPPORT FOR ARCHANGEL ORPHANAGES
Several ongoing efforts are providing amazing help to many orphanages in the
Archangel Region. Our Archangel Committee has, over the years, provided money
and medical supplies to the Regional and City Baby Homes in the City of
Archangel. The Kotlas Connection in Waterville has similarly provided money and
supplies to the Kotlas Baby Home and P/S Connection in Portsmouth has delivered
supplies and toys to the Severodvinsk Baby Home.
In addition, a non-profit corporation has been formed in Ohio by Lisa and Phil
Wurster who adopted their son, Peter, from the Kotlas Baby Home in November
2001. This organization is called "Friends of Russian Orphans" (FORO) and it is
dedicated to providing material and financial assistance to four orphanages in
the Archangel Oblast: the Kotlas Baby Home, the Solvichogodsk Baby Home (near
Kotlas), Regional Children's Orphanage Number 1 (ages 4 to 16) and the Regional
Baby Home (both in the City of Archangel). FORO is planning to send another
humanitarian mission to Archangel in Spring 2003 and it, is hoped that FORO and
our Archangel Committee can work together on future projects. For more
information about FORO, please visit their website at www.fororphans.org or call
Lisa at 1-419-841-6971.
Also, a major airlift of humanitarian supplies has been organized in Memphis,
Tennessee by Archangel Committee members Janie and James Ghaffari who adopted
their two sons, Parker and Cade, from the Regional Baby Home in July 2001. The
Federal Express Company, headquartered in Memphis, has donated free air shipment
to Moscow for 7 boxes of supplies donated by Memphis-area residents and destined
for Regional Children's Orphanage # 1. These supplies left Memphis in January
and FedEx has indicated that they will ensure the supplies clear customs in
Moscow before being trans-shipped to Archangel via another secure service,
probably DHL. The expected arrivai date in Archangel is mid February 2003. This
shipment is the second major project organized by Janie and James: earlier they
raised thousands of dollars to successfully build a fully-equipped outdoor
playground at the Regional Baby Home. We hope our Archangel Committee can help
in these efforts as the Ghaffaris plan a return mission to Archangel in late May
2003. For more information, please visit their website at www.jghaffari.com.
There are a number of other Americans who have adopted children from the
Archangel Oblast and who have expressed support for our Committee and for these
humanitarian efforts: Carol and Chris Santini in Northboro, Massachusetts
adopted Alexander from the Severodvinsk Baby Home in 1998; Georgine Prokopikan
Takoma Park, Maryland adopted Anna from the Regional Baby Home in 1993; and Kim
and John Busel in Tuckahoe, New York adopted Matthew from the City Baby Home in
Archangel in November 2001.
It must be noted that efforts to find Russian adoptive parents for these
children are also being made. The Archangel newspaper Pravdasevera
regularly publishes information about adolescents in Regional Children's
Orphanage # 1 who are "searching for a family": the December 12, 2002 edition
mentioned Faith (age 14) who enjoys sewing and baking sweets, Helen (age 12) who
loves animals and Barbi dolls, and Jeanne (age 10) who enjoys music and Sunday
School. Interested adults are urged to telephone the orphanage at 62-88-72.
MAINE LEGISLATORS RE-VISIT ARCHANGEL
As part of the continuing Rule of Law Program, two members of the Maine House of
Representatives arrived in Archangel on January 20, 2003 where they will be
week-long guests of the Archangel Oblast Regional Duma (Legislature). The
delegates are Representative Matthew Dunlap (D - Old Town) and Representative
David Trahan (R - Waldoboro). They are being guided by Committee Co-Vice Chair
Ray Pelletier. Rep. Dunlap chairs the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Committee and Rep. Trahan serves as a senior member of that same committee. As
you read this newsletter, our Representatives. are involved in several
roundtable discussions regarding comparative legislative processes, public
hearings and lobbying, and the importance of legislative history. In addition,
particular focus will be on (1) existing and potential legislation to deal with
the problems of gender justice and domestic violence, and (2) the budget process
and tax issues common to both, governments. Our delegates are also visiting
logging operations and pulp and paper processing facilities.
PORTSMOUTH/SEVERODVINSK NEWS
Severodvinsk Mayor Alexander Beliaev and his wife Valentina visited Portsmouth
September 4 to 11, 2002; they had a busy schedule in the Portsmouth area and
also had time to visit Waterville and Monson in Maine. Nine Portsmouth-area high
school students will visit and study in Severodvinsk April 11 to May 4, 2003 in
the final delegation under the current U. S. State Department grant.
WATERVILLE/KOTLAS NEWS
The August 2002 delegation to Kotlas brought back a good quantity of Christmas
ornaments and sales were brisk at the November 13th Annual Meeting, the December
7th craft sale at Waterville High School and at Jorgensen's Coffee Shop in
Waterville. Proceeds from these sales will help bring Sergey Trofimov (age 15),
Olga Gorshkova (16), and teacher Tatiana Shelygina from Kotlas to Waterville for
two weeks in March 2003; they will participate in Russian Sampler Day at Colby
College on Monday, March 24, 2003.
ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING
The business portion of our Annual Meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 28,
2003 at 5:30 p.m. at the Maine International Trade Center, 511 Congress Street
in Portland. We will be holding the more traditional social portion of our
Annual Meeting on Sunday, February 16, 2003 at 2:00 p.m. at the USM Campus
Center off Bedford Street in Portland. We hope that some of our recent travelers
to Archangel will be speaking on their adventures. More information soon!
INTERNET
We thank Great Works Internet for hosting our Committee Website at
http://www.arkhangelsk.org. We
also thank our dedicated webmaster Jim Jacobsen for his volunteer work in
keeping our website world-class!
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