The Board had a meeting with Karin Andersen our Charity Liaison the first week of June to discuss possible IWCT charity recipients. Several options were proposed. As a result Carin, Janet and Maimu visited Keila SOS Children’s village last week,
Keila SOS Children’s village was opened in 1994. Today they have twelve “families” living in the village. They take in children who have lost their parents or whose parents cannot care for them. Biological siblings are kept together. Children are placed in families (5-7 children) with a paid staff member who is called the SOS mother. The SOS mother lives with the family in the village 24/7 having 6 days off per month. We liked what they are doing and decided that it was a project we would like to support. Please see www.office@sos-lastekyla.ee/eng/ for more information.
Keila SOS Village is funded by government funding and local sponsors (56%), the rest of their funds come from international sponsors of SOS villages. They aim to have all their funding needs covered locally by the year 2010. They are asking companies, organisations and private sponsors to become Godparents to a SOS village family. This entails making an annual financial commitment as well as an emotional commitment. As Godparents we will be invited to attend celebrations, birthdays, as well as just to visit and connect with our family. We will need to raise money to help pay for the family’s daily needs as well as donate clothing, school, arts & crafts supplies and other items which a growing family needs. Of course we can’t forget birthdays and Christmas gifts! We will introduce our “family” to you as soon as it has been formalised.
As a secondary project we will continue to gather clothing, toys, school supplies, rugs, books, etc. for two children’s homes/shelters and their staff in East Virumaa as well as for Väikemõisa. If you have such items to give away, please contact Karin or Janet. Please sort clothing for Väikemõisa (children under 10 yrs) separately. Please lable the bags as to contents- ie clothing for girls age 10-15 etc to make our job of sorting and delivering easier.
We are also looking for donations of working TV’s and DVD players to donate to the homes as well as to some schools for teaching purposes. Please let Maimu know if you have any of these items to donate.