#teamruslan

In December of 2016 our family was given the opportunity to host a boy from Ukraine for a month long stay over his Christmas break. We welcomed Ruslan, 13, into our home and our family. He lives in an orphanage in Ukraine, referred to as a school, and was able to be part of the Host Ukraine organization. This wonderful organization allows orphans to be with families and have a travel experience during Christmas and summer time. The hope is that they will experience love and family, and just maybe, find their forever family.

This past December, we heard about hosting, decided to host, and were hosting all within 5 days. We heard about the opportunity on Sunday at church and he came very late Thursday night.  We filled out the application, did background checks and paid the fees fast. He had a signifaciant grant to bring him here and someone also blessed all Maine families with an additional $300 grant. We made the decision to invest in Ruslan's life and we're happy to do so.

Needless to say, we fell in love with Ruslan. He is a wonderful and very typical 13 year old (14 on Valentine's Day 2017) boy.  Kenny and Heather Tripp also fell in love with Ruslan. we have the opportunity to host our boy again for 10 weeks this summer.

We have decided to host him together with the Tripp's! 

This way he will get to have more family experiences and more love.❤

We fully intend to host Ruslan again, but are asking our friends and family to consider helping us bring him back.  There aren't any grants this time, so we need to come up with all the fees.

The fees are as follows:

$2,995 + $25 application fee
Or ONLY $2,745 if paid in full by 2/21/17
$250 deposit (plus application fee) due by 2/21/17
The remainder is due by sometime in April.

Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a team to give an orphan a family for Christmas and the summer. Want to be a part of #teamruslan?  Here's how!

You can make a tax deductible donation to Host Ukraine directly with Ruslan /Tarsha Downing in the memo. That way they will know who the money is going toward hosting and you can get the deduction.

You can make a payment to a friend or family member on PayPal to tarshadowning@hotmail.com with the memo Ruslan. The money will ALL go directly to hosting fees.

You can give Kenny, Rudy, Heather or myself a cash or check donation. If you want to donate an item for Ruslan that is appreciated too. He will need summer clothing/accessories. However, we will purchase all his needs this summer.

Regardless of any donation you may or not make, please keep us ALL in your prayers!

Thank you for joining #teamruslan on our journey!

Kenny, Heather, Logan & Dayla
Rudy, Tarsha, Sadie, Lil Rudy & Imani