Christmas Gifts for Orphans

Dear Friends - this is a letter from a missionary that works with orphans in Ukraine. Please read this letter and if you can help and want us to take your gifts instead of mailing them, we are taking gifts for these children when we leave December 3. We have dedicated at least two large suitcases to fill with gifts. If you are in the Jackson, MS area, we are having a gift packing party Tuesday, November 25 around lunch time in the Belhaven area- email me and I will let you know details - Matthew@twinlakescamp.org or you can send items by December 1 to Twin Lakes, 155 Milner Road, Florence, MS 39073 ATTN: Matthew Nasekos

Orphan Christmas Project 2008
My name is ....and for the past 7 years I have been involved in ministry to orphan children in Ukraine. During the past year my friends .... and I have made contact with 2 very poor orphanages outside the city of Odessa. The children in these orphanages range in age from 3-16.
The children come from many different situations. Some have parents who have died, are in jail, have been involved in drugs or alcohol, or have abandoned them at some time in their lives. But no matter the reason that the children have been placed in the orphanage, life there is tough for all of them. The children have the same schedule day after day, eating, sleeping, going to school, and having all their free time right at the orphanage. Even holidays are spent in the orphanage and without any celebration.
As far as I know, the children in these 2 orphanages have never received a special gift at Christmas. This year our goal is to provide a Christmas gift to each child in these two orphanages. Maybe your church or small group would be willing to help?
We have split up the kids into 11 groups, with about 10-15 kids in each group. We are looking for 11 churches to be willing to “adopt” one class to send Christmas gifts to. If you are interested in learning more, I will include instructions about the project at the end of this letter. Thank you for your consideration of this opportunity to be a blessing to the orphans of Ukraine!
In Christ,
....


Instructions
If your church or small group is interested in “adopting” one class from the orphanage, please e-mail Matthew Nasekos. Then he will send you an email with information (age and gender) about one of the groups of kids.
It’s up to you to decide how to divide up the needs and gather the gifts. Packages usually take 2-4 weeks to arrive in Ukraine so if gifts are mailed they should be mailed before Dec 15th. In Ukraine, we celebrate Christmas on Jan 7th so hopefully the gifts will arrive in time.
We would also ask that each church send $60 to Youth Of Ukraine (email Matthew for Address). We will use this money to buy shampoo, toothpaste and a toothbrush to include in each gift. It will be much cheaper to purchase these items here in Ukraine and also it will save on the shipping costs for you.
Gift Guidelines
All gifts should fit inside a sealed quart size zip-lock bag and the cost of each gift should not exceed $10. Each gift should include: 1 pair of socks, 1 type of candy, a Christmas card, and an extra item(s). Some ideas are listed below but these are only suggestions and other items may be included as well. Be creative and use your imagination J The zip-lock may be sent wrapped or unwrapped (We will wrap unwrapped gifts so they will all be the same).
Gift ideas
For younger children (3-7): any small toys, balls, cars, crayons, coloring books
For older children (8-16): nailpolish, hair things, lip gloss, jewelry, photo frame, photo album, small balls, keychains, yo-yo, legos, building games (k’nex, magnetic toys), small notebook, stickers, UNO card game, small puzzles, brain teaser games, small electronic games, watch, markers,