Presents Still Needed

Wonderful people have been giving me presents all year for my upcoming trip but I still want more! Last year I read the instructions that said I needed to bring 25 of each of the items on the list of presents for the Russian orphans and thought that was all I could bring. I found out I was wrong! We spent the first evening in the orphanage at Sergei Posad putting together gift bags and I realized that we can use as many of each item that we can carry over there. I need to inventory all the great stuff I have but I'll still take anything that is on the list. (The list can be found in the last post dated May 2 - I'll repost it soon if you can't get to it.)

Volunteers in Mission also need cash donations to cover the cost of shipping the presents to Moscow. We take them with us when we fly ther in December. I think it costs between $50 and $100 to ship a 50 pound box. I've been asked if there aren't less expensive ways to ship the presents but I'm told that this is the best way. Packages sent by other carriers don't always make it to the children. 'Nuff said! Cash donations are also used to buy such items as washers and dryers for the orphanages while the Team is there. There is a link to VIM in the box to the right of the blog.