LIFELINE: funding education for teens in the USA (the third option in giving).

It all started with an email from Robyn Norwood on staff at Pomona College in California. Seven colleges/universities, she told us, were offering a cost-free education to qualifying students from Ukraine: Pomona, CalTech, Smith, Williams, NYU, Dartmouth, and Bowdoin. Several of our soon-to-be graduates applied.

Anya Ivanish (top left) and seven students bound for schools in the states.

Three hurdles make it difficult for any International student with good grades and motivation to get an education in the States: Funding, competency in the English language, and The War.

The war has forced families to leave homes, jobs, and centers of education. Hundreds of schools and colleges have been damaged or completely destroyed. Air raids which occur two or three times a day cause delays and often close schools. Children start studying English at an early age, but, as you might expect, they learn on paper. They can't speak it. It is rare to have a native speaker of English in any classroom. And funding is often necessary because even the best of scholarships do not always provide insurance, room and board.

Above, Anastasia

So......we schedule time after-school to help kids with homework. We train kids to read, speak, and be interviewed in English. We help them with applications to colleges, or to high schools where they can spend at least a year to improve their English for the college level.

We are seeking funding from individuals, institutions and endowments.

We now have three options for funding for This Child Here:

The General Fund - This keeps all of our programs and services going.

The Basics - the fund for food, clothing, and medicine for displaced families.

Lifeline - the fund for education and travel to the states for applicants accepted by schools in the States. We call it "Lifeline" because it really is like throwing a line to students in this raging sea that is The War in Ukraine. And because one day that student will help to save not only the future of his/her family, but the future of Ukraine.

Currently, students are considering Presbyterian High Schools: Rabun Gap, in North Georgia, Menaul School in Albuquerque, and Pan American School in Texas.