The TOUCH Project
TOUCH (Take One Ukrainian Child’s Hand) is a sponsorship program for Ukrainian children.
In 1999, Sabra Killen and Alice Rampton traveled to Uzhhorod, Ukraine to help distribute a shipment of humanitarian aid. This shipment was one of many projects between Uzhhorod and Corvallis since the inception of their sister city relationship in 1989-90. Killen and Rampton visited three orphanages and recognized that there were many children with special needs. Upon returning home, they envisioned a program that would help meet some of these specific needs. To support these children, they developed this sponsorship program under the auspices of the Corvallis Sister Cities Association, an NGO, with a 35-year relationship between Corvallis, Oregon and Uzhhorod, Ukraine.
Under The TOUCH Project, five specific programs provide services to more than 450 children in Uzhhorod:
The New Family Program provides a center for children with at least one parent who is deceased, deprived of parental rights, in prison, or has abandoned the family. They often live with a grandparent or guardian. The children may receive a hot meal, meet friends, study, take a shower, wash their clothes, and gain instruction in music, dance, art, sewing, languages, and computers at the new Family Center.
The Rehabilitation Center for Children with Disabilities (Path of Life) serves individuals from the age of one to adulthood with various physical and/or mental disabilities. They have access to the center for schooling, physical therapy, socialization, and job training. A house was recently purchased to also provide a supported living “group home” setting for older youth with disabilities whose parents have died or are no longer able to care for them.
Public School #14 provides educational opportunities for children, ages 7-16. Most of these children are Roma ethnicity and come from impoverished situations. The school receives donations which are used to provide books, supplies, playground equipment, musical instruments, and facility improvement.
The Pavlovo Farm Home provides opportunities for young women who have graduated from area orphanages or boarding schools. They are given a safe & nurturing environment on a farm setting in which to learn and develop talents and marketable skills. They learn how to manage money, apply for a job, grow crops and take care of animals, and gain friendships. There are also three children who reside at the Farm and are without parental support.
The Transcarpathian Specialized School is for students with hearing loss. These students come from all over the Transcarpathian (Zakarpattia) Region. Some of the students remain at the school overnight while others go home to their family home. TOUCH donors have helped this school update their classrooms, sign language programs, computers, and sports equipment.
The TOUCH Project is run by volunteers. Those on delegations to Ukraine every year to meet with the children and the program sites pay for their own lodging, food, airfare and ground travel. As such, the overhead is small for the project, with most of the funds raised going directly to benefit the children.
