In Central and Eastern Europe thousands of children die every winter from hypothermia and pneumonia, and many other children lose their toes or feet due to frostbite. Over 300 million children around the world don’t own a pair of shoes. These are primarily street children and orphans, the majority of which are of Roma or "gypsy" ethnicity. Providing proper footwear is the first step to helping this underserved population of children. The situation is dire:
- According to authorities in Kharkov, Ukraine, an estimated 300,000 children are outside the school system in Ukraine, and more than 600 children sleep on the streets there each night. Many teenagers have been on the streets for as long as eight years.
- Orphanages in the Ukraine report than 97% of children leaving institutions become homeless.
- About 2,500 children in Georgia have turned to the street to earn money either by begging or prostitution.
- At least 2,000 children live on the streets in Bucharest, Romania and 5,000 in the country. As many as 42% of these children were sexually abused between the ages of 6 and 12.
Our goal is to develop a network of foundations that reach out to this impoverished population that has been abandoned and neglected. Our broader plan is to empower these children to break out of their cycle of poverty by getting them back into the education system where they can learn to take care of themselves.
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