DIEMAS DREAM FOUNDATION

To improve the lives of disabled Russian orphans and children living with families by providing operations, rehabilitation, therapy sessions, life skills, medical equipment and medicines, support to families raising a disabled child and creating a social network of the families to overcome the social isolation, to provide Summer Camps as a respite for young adults who are disabled from birth who live in state institutions. There are over 700,000 orphans in Russia, increasing by 113,000 per year. Of those 617,000 are disabled. There are 2,176 orphanages in Russia which is 100% increase in the last decade. 15% to 20% of newborn Russian babies are considered unhealthy. In hospitals, 70% of medical equipment is outdated or broken. Disabled orphans and children are a low priority to receive medical attention, operations or rehabilitations. Our goal is to help as many disabled Russian orphans and children as possible. We are only limited by available funding. From year to year, as our fundraising potential increases, we are able to help more children with special needs; however, we have waiting lists of children who need operations and treatments, as well as, children waiting to be admitted to our Family Center for therapy.

We host an annual event to raise the majority of funds to support our programs. We reach out to our supporters and donors, with our e-newsletters. We report on the successes of the children we have helped, as well as, telling about children who still need our help and what treatments are required and the cost. We participate in charity bazars and brunches to raise funds. We have a network of social media. We are starting social awareness campaigns to reach out to Russian citizens to inform them of the plight of the special needs children.

We raise funds in the US, UK and Russia to support our programs in Russia. Since we began fundraising annually in 2005 in Russia, we have over 50 corporate sponsors and donors that we reach out to. We have a strong connection to the ex-pat community in Moscow, that have supported our cause for over 8 years. For over 15 years, we have reached out to contacts, supporters and donors in the US and UK by hosting 75 fundraising events. We will continue to propose an endowment plan to any resource we can find. The major obstacle is funding, as we have the specialists to help these children. With funding we can hire more specialists and help more children. To further our work with our Family Center children, we need an appropriate facility to hold therapy sessions. We continue in this endeavor.

We have helped thousands of disabled orphaned children and children with families. But there are thousands more children with special needs who need our help. Every day we receive many requests from families and orphanages. We are only limited by available funding.