BERTHOUD, Colo. — Recent bombings in central Ukraine have forced a local nonprofit to postpone their trip. Ukraine Orphan Outreach has helped support displaced children since 2006 but over the last six months, work has tripled.
"I never would have thought sitting here 20 years later that we'd be talking about this horrible war that's ya know just the biggest war since WWII," Kris Stoesz, the co-Founder of Ukraine Orphan Outreach, said. "It's just kind of this emotional rollercoaster that we've been on."
Ukraine Orphan Outreach has housed thousands of children who age out of the system in Ukraine. Stoesz was supposed to get on an airplane next week to visit the group homes she has spent the last 20 years supporting, but bombings in Central Ukraine raised safety concerns.
Russian troops already took over a city where one of the homes is located.
"It’s like you feel so helpless but it’s like we’re making as much of an impact as you can, but you just never feel like it’s enough," Stoesz added. "Since the war started our budget has ballooned and we're still able to support them but I don't know for how long."
Stoesz stated donations to her nonprofit have leveled out. The once massive drive Americans had to help those in Ukraine has slowed down but the need has not.
"Based on our past yearly budgets, it has tripled," she explained. "But there's still a war going on and there's women and children dying pretty much everyday and suffering and we can't forget they're our brother and sisters in this world."
Stoesz said they are coordinating a summer camp for orphans who lost both parents in the war. It's unclear how many kids that will include but her sources said there are a number of them. The camp would be a month long and take place in the western part of Ukraine.
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