Ukraine Taskforce News for February

Taskforce Meeting

Next taskforce meeting is Tuesday,  February 21st  at  Rosie & Joe's.   Rosie will have salad and spaghetti...with Joe's special spaghetti sauce!  Anything that anyone wants to add to the meal would be great.  6:00-ish for dinner and fellowship; 6:30-ish to start meeting.  Address:  2810 N.W. Golden Drive, Seattle.   Contact Rosie, Carolyn, or Wayne if you want directions.

Support for Grace Gang Ministry

We've just sent off our first check to MMK for support of the Grace Gang ministry - $2800!  Music Mission Kiev's Grace Gang ministry supports the "grad orphans" - those teens and young adults transitioning out of life in the orphanage to life on their own.  Since the orphanages teach virtually no "life skills," these kids are pretty much on their own to make decisions and choices about jobs, and their life's direction.  Statistically, about 70-80% of these orphans end up committing suicide or in crime or prostitution as adults.  MMK's program helps support and guide them to make better life choices.

http://www.musicmissionkiev.org/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=1&ArticleID=97

"The Boys" - Two of the Grace Gang Visit Seattle!

Vitaly (who many of us met in Kiev) and another of the Grace Gang (Alexi, I think is his name) will be visiting Seattle in July.  MMK has arranged for them to work at a summer camp in North Carolina.  Two UPC'ers donated the miles necessary to fly them from Kiev to the States...and so they'll be starting off their American experience with a visit to Seattle, possibly participating in some of the UPC youth ministries while they're here. 

They'll be arriving July 3rd and leaving for North Carolina on July 15th.  Vitaly will be staying with Ken & Marcia Tank, but we need a host family for Alexi.  If you're interested in hosting him, contact Ken and Marcia at kenandmarciat@earthlink.net.

Taskforce Funding Needed for This Year

Our goal this year was to provide $6000 in funding to MMK's Grace Gang ministry.  Unfortunately, our main fundraiser, the calendar sales, didn't raise as much money as we'd expected.  In fact, we actually ended up with a loss after paying the printing costs. 

We've recently sent a check for approximately half of the planned amount, $2800.  In order to send the remaining $3200, we need to make up our calendar deficit of $2100.  I think the easiest way to look at this is that if we raise the $2100 by the end of the fiscal year in June, then the Missions Dept will "match" 50% of that to send off the balance.  (The actual calculation behind this is a bit more complicated than I want to explain in a newsletter, but if you want the details, Wayne Kenney can provide them.)

If you'd like to make a contribution to the taskforce toward this goal, the best way is to send your check to the Missions department, attention either Julie Lewis or Lil Runnion - and marked clearly Ukraine Taskforce.

Kiev Short Term Mission - Teaching English!

Dates for this short term mission trip are  August 4 - 16.  We'll be partnering with Church of the Holy Trinity to put on this camp.    I'll  be holding an organizing meeting at UPC on a Sunday morning sometime in  the next month for those who are interested in this mission trip to learn more.  Pray about this  and watch the bulletin for meeting time and location. I've had some great email conversations with our Ukraine partners about plans for the camp.

Contact me or Julie Lewis if you're interested.