Dear Friends,

Please consider a year-end gift to help an elderly Ukrainian! As many of you know, I run "American Friends of For Survival," www.forsurvival.org, a small charity that helps poor elderly in Kyiv.  We provide $15-30/month to supplement Ukrainians' small pensions.

We need your help this year!    As energy prices shoot up and Kyiv becomes a modern European city, with corresponding prices, the elderly on fixed inocmes struggle to get by. The minimum pension in 2007 was equivalent to about $80 per month.

"American Friends of For Survival" is run by volunteers; every cent of the funds we collect goes to the elderly.   Your support enables elderly people to buy medicine for which there is no insurance, a winter coat or decent food. Our website explains how recipients are screened and funds accounted for, and of course, I would be happy to answer any questions.

I wish all our donors could meet the people we help, but I have space to profile just one.   Maria Matveyvna is typical of today's pensioners, the generation that survived the horrors of World War II and Stalin's repression.  Now an eighty-two year old widow, Maria was trapped in Kyiv during World War II.  A Gestapo interrogation of the teenager "has left its marks on me to this day," Maria says.  She went on to graduate from an institute and work in industry 40 years.  Soon after she retired, the Soviet Union disintegrated.  Massive inflation wiped out the life savings of people like Maria, who had worked all their lives. Governments facing economic collapse were unable to help.

Pensions have risen since the 1990s, but not as much as prices. Maria writes "life is difficult for pensioners, as we have many health problems, medications are expensive but our pensions are insufficient."

This year "For Survival" has redoubled help to the homebound, organizing volunteers to purchase and bring them food as well as companionship. "For Survival also partnered with a youth organization, giving young and old an opportunity to learn from each other.

Please consider a gift to "American Friends of For Survival."  Just $180 will help someone like Maria for a full year, but any amount is deeply appreciated.  Donating is easy!  All it takes is three clicks at our website, www.forsurvival.org.

Dyakuyu!  (Thank you) from the very bottom of our hearts.  Have a wonderful year!

Katie Fox

(President
American Friends of for Survival
3100 Connecticut Ave. N.W. #235
Washington, D.C. 20008)