As we prepare this monthly update to our supporters, we express condolences to the people of southern Asia in the aftermath of last month's tsunami. At the same time, we recognize the private individuals, governments and aid organizations that have united in offering relief to the affected nations and their people.

Providing immediate aid to the affected nations will be an urgent task for some time to come – later will come the equally important task of rebuilding the communities. We recall how after the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, many people rushed to the aid of the people most affected. Today, the task of rebuilding community and basic social structures remains. The people of many parts of Belarus, Ukraine and western Russia continue to deal with the social and economic aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, along with medical consequences of long term exposure to radiation. With our hearts we seek to provide immediate relief to suffering, especially the suffering of children. With our heads, we seek to help rebuild the community with programs that will help the people of Belarus help themselves.

In this month's newsletter, you will read about:

  1. William Novick, MD: The internationally-honored cardiac surgeon joins our board of directors.
  2. Project Updates
  3. Belarus, the country most impacted by the Chernobyl disaster.
  4. Volunteer Talent Pool Alert: Seeking resumes in key professional areas.
  5. More ways to help

As our supporter, we encourage you to forward this email to a friend so that they can learn more about the Chernobyl disaster and how CCPI helps.

Also, many of our supporters do not use email, and while our aim is to keep our “overhead” expenses low, we are thinking about sending out a “hard copy” newsletter in the mail a few times a year. If you would like to receive postal mail from us, go to the bottom of this newsletter, and select “To unsubscribe/change profile.” You will be able to add your US mail address to our records. We promise to never sell your postal information. You can change or delete any of your contact information at any time, including removing your contact information from our list altogether.  

William Novick, MD

1. CCPI welcomes William Novick, MD, to our board of directors

If you saw the film Chernobyl Heart, you will surely remember cardiac surgeon William Novick, MD. Dr. Novick's International Children's Heart Foundation does life saving cardiac surgery all over the world – CCPI provides the financial and logistical support for his continued work in Belarus, where 7000 children are on a waiting list for surgery to save their lives. Check out Who We Are to learn about Dr. Novick's background. Dr. Novick recently received Belarus' highest humanitarian honor – the Order of Francysk Skaryna. (An honor also given to director Adi Roche.) We welcome Dr. Novick to our board for his medical expertise and the mutual respect he has built with the medical community in Belarus.

   

A young life saved last month

2. Project Updates

Children's cardiac program … In late December, 20 more young lives were saved by the surgical team led by William Novick, MD, whose surgical mission was funded through your donations. Click on Images to see the faces of the young patients. Have you wondered whatever happened to Tatyanna, the cardiac patient featured in the film? You'll find her latest picture and story here. In partnership with the International Children's Heart Foundation, we send a cardiac team to Belarus three times per year. An important part of our surgical missions is training for Belarusian surgeons – training that will allow them to help their young patients year round.

Zhytkovichi Community Center … One of our key goals is to develop local programs that enable the citizens of Chernobyl-affected regions to help themselves – the key to long term change. An example of such a program is the Zhytkovichi Community Center, located in the Gomel region of Belarus. Read more about it here.

Learn more … click on Our Programs.  

   

Flag of Belarus

3. Discover Belarus

Never heard of Belarus? Now is a good time to learn more. Since the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is located in Ukraine, it often is not clearly recognized that the wind blew 70% of the toxic radioactive material on Belarus and its people, causing massive relocations, and health, social and economic consequences that continue 18 years later. Click here and we will put Belarus on the map for you, give a brief overview of this country where we do our work, and provide you with interesting links so that you can learn more.

   

4. Volunteer Alert

As we develop projects in Belarus, we are constantly looking for resumes to update our Talent Pool of professionals we can call on if needed. Thanks to the many of you who have already responded. If you have professional experience in the areas of physical, occupational, or language therapy, or social work with families of mentally and physically disabled children, we would like to hear from you. Click here to fill out a Volunteer Application.

   
Make a secure online donation

5. More Ways to Help

We continue to ask for your financial support. If you tapped out your charitable giving budget aiding tsunami victims – that was a important choice, too, as it is such an urgent need at this time. But, there are still some ways you can help support our work:

Spread the word . . . forward this newsletter to your friends and associates and urge them to learn more about the Chernobyl disaster.

Sign up for our email newsletter . . . if you were forwarded this mail, consider signing up yourself so we can keep you posted on our work.

Link to us . . . link to our website from your personal home page, blog or business website.

Buy baby clothes from formercysake.com . . . they will donate 15% of sales from baby clothes to CCPI.

File your taxes online . . . Taxes2Charity will donate $10 for every tax return filed online to CCPI. Click here to learn more about it.

Sell on eBay . . . if you are an eBay seller, you can sell items and direct a portion of proceeds to CCPI. Click on GivingWorks on the eBay home page to learn more.

Donate stock… a few individuals have donated stock to CCPI, to offset gains in their stock positions. It's a win-win in which CCPI gets the full value of the stock, and the giver may not need to pay taxes on the gain. Check with your financial advisor to learn if this is right for you.

Check to see if your employer has a matching program . . . your donation might go twice as far!