In launching our child sponsorship scheme with the buildup from May & June 1995, IRFF has cast the net much wider, making new partnerships and new joint-ventures in the former Soviet Union, and at home here in Britain. Leaving just enough room in our scheme buildup to be surprised, we have achieved a 28% increase in our service delivery output over 1994.

When you become a sponsor of an orphaned child, in either Kiev, Ukraine or St. Petersburg, Russia, IRFF-UK will provide you with a photograph and details of the child's personal background together with a comprehensive description of the institution the child is living in and the school he/she attends.

For the Long Distance Child, sponsorship means the provision of nutrition for the child, primary health care and the opportunity for better education, with an improvement in the family's living conditions, by way of your regular contributions.

To lift families out of poverty, every child placed on the scheme will be linked to a project where he/she can become, in due course, self- reliant. Towards this end, a St. Petersburg bank has registered on the scheme to provide self-help loans to qualifying families.

When IRFF-UK receives your first month's or first quarter's payment, we assign from a pool of 395 children, an orphaned child, aged range 1 to 9 years old. You are given a sponsorship account, account number and all your payment will be recorded in an official manner. Monthly, a transfer of all funds from all client accounts is made to the St. Petersburg bank, for the institution there, and also forwarded to Kiev, for the orphanage there. The child's progress will be reported to you quarterly, by the partners of the scheme, The Red Cross, IRFF U.K., and Assoc. of British Health-Care.

This is so that you know how your child is getting on. Your letters, postcards and magazines/books may be exchanged with your sponsored child through our scheme field office, Wembley Park. There, materials will be translated and forwarded, as needed.

Sometimes, sponsors might like to send an extra-special wish to the child, their family or the project of work, at the institution. Gifts should be sent in the form of money to IRFF U.K., which will pass on 100% of your gift with your instructions-though it is normal practice to pool gifts so that no one child is left out, in orphanages.

The name of the institutions where your child will be drawn are:

* The School for Life, St. Petersburg, Russia, and

* The Kiev Children's Foundation, Kiev, Ukraine.

Solution-oriented feedback is crucial for the Long Distance Child Sponsorship Scheme to work, and towards this end the maintenance of resource procurement is vital. If your contribution is in-kind, over the counter medicines, health care supplies or non-perishable foodstuffs, then you can sponsor a child this way, as well. All logistics will be handled by the joint-partners in the scheme, including the Red Cross's forward team in Kiev, Ukraine. What the former Soviet Union needs: bedding, blankets, milk powder, cotton wool, plasters ("bandaids"), pasta, rice, flour, cleaning disinfectant, antiseptics, etc.

Help Poor People to Help Themselves: Ten pounds or twenty dollars a month can be stretched much further for those truly in need.

Contact: Chris D. Hays on 01426 659 553 (pager).

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