Service Trip To Latvian Orphanage

Dear Friends and Family,

My name is Emily Minster. This is a picture of me and my friend Vika. Vika is an orphan from Latvia, a small country west of Russia. Our close friends recently hosted Vika over the December holidays. An organization called Project 143 coordinates the hosting program and they help find homes for some of the 143 million orphans in the world. (See www.projectonefortythree.com).  

Vika lived with our friends for about a month. She is eleven years old, my age. We became very close while she was here. She left in mid-January. I went to the JFK airport in New York to say goodbye to her along with her host family. There were about twenty other children who had been hosted over the holidays as well, between the ages of six and fifteen. Vika was sent to the orphanage about two years ago at age nine. 

I would like to go on a community service trip to the orphanage in Latvia with my mom and our friends who hosted Vika.  

We will bring supplies like winter coats, socks and blue jeans, will play with the children, and do other volunteer work, and possibly visiting their school for a day. We are also going to try and bring some small gifts for the kids like hairbands. 

I would greatly appreciate any contribution. We are going to make the trip on March 13-23. Funds will go towards supplies for the orphans and some travel expenses.

To do this trip, I'd like to raise $3,000 through a combination of performing odd jobs, bake sales, and receiving donations. With the help of many donations I can make it. Stay tuned for updates on our page! Thank you so much.

Sincerely,

Emily Minster, 11