Oct. 5, 2008 — St. John residents Lori Dudkin and Joe Palminteri are extending hands across the ocean to Ukraine, gathering art supplies, twin-sized mattress covers and sheets, crutches, wheelchairs, children's blood-pressure cuffs and stethoscopes to help the Tsurupinsk Children's House in southern Ukraine.
"We wanted to see something really make a difference," Dudkin said.
All 200-plus children, ages 4 to 18, have special needs. Most are in wheelchairs and wearing diapers because they're incontinent. Some have mental-health issues. Others are missing limbs or have cerebral palsy.
This story has its roots in Dudkin's stint as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine from 1994 to 1996. She met and married a Ukrainian man, Sasha Dudkin. Five years ago, the two moved to St. John with their first child. Nadia is now 9, and they now have another girl, Maya, age 4.
The family returns to Ukraine every few years to visit her husband's family, giving the children a taste of a life that is far less materialistic than their one on St. John. A discussion around this topic prompted Nadia to start saving money in her piggy bank to help out less-fortunate Ukrainian children.
On a trip this summer, Dudkin visited the Tsurpinsk Children's House to assess the needs. They are many. When the budget runs short at the end of the month, the staff has to use rags instead of diapers, Dudkin said. However, while necessities may be in short supply, the place is clean and the staff caring, Dudkin said.
As occupational therapy, the children do art work, but supplies are also on the short list.
After Dudkin told Palminteri about this need, the two joined forces to help out. While they're still ironing out the details, Palminteri said that it seems certain the Rotary Club of St. John and a stateside Rotary club will help out with logistics like shipping and cash donations to buy supplies like diapers and toilet paper on the mainland.
But the two hope St. John residents will remember these needy children when they're cleaning out their closets. There are probably plenty of unused art supplies taking up closet space that would find a good home at the Tsurpinsk Children's House, Dudkin said. The list of items needed includes coloring books, colored pencils, construction paper, card stock, composition books, hot glue guns and glue sticks, glitter, acrylic paint, clay, and oil paints.
The Children's House also needs a multimedia DVD projector.
The staff can't buy children's blood-pressure cuffs in Ukraine, and the stethoscopes are poor quality. If anyone has any of these tucked away in a drawer, the Children's House can put them to good use, Dudkin said.
Next week Dudkin and Palminteri will place collection boxes at various locations around St. John. The list includes Connections in Cruz Bay and Coral Bay, Gifft Hill School, Kaleidoscope at the Marketplace shopping center, and Cruz Bay Canines, Cats and Critters.
On her various trips to Ukraine Dudkin has learned a lot about how the country deals with children who need help. While most of the children at the Children's House have parents, they don't visit and the place is referred to as an orphanage, she said. All towns have orphanages for children without parents, she said. Ukrainians don't adopt children from orphanages, so the children spend their entire youths at the homes, she said.
As for the children at the Children's House, when they reach 18 they receive a "pension," Dudkin said. It remains unclear what happens to them, who takes care of those unable to care for themselves and how they live on the little bit of money they get from the government.
However, Dudkin and Palminteri would like to establish a place in Ukraine where people who have aged out of the Children's House can get jobs. There are many similar places on the U.S. mainland where people who can't work in conventional jobs learn skills that enable them to earn some money.
Dudkin and Palminteri both have spent many hours volunteering for various St. John activities. They're ready to expand their efforts to the broader world, Palminteri said.
"There are a lot of needy people everywhere," he said.
For more information or to help, call Dudkin at 642-1073 or Palminteri at 344-5971.
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