Happy 10th Anniversary, Last Bell!
Ten years ago, on this day, Last Bell was officially incorporated. Here are a few highlights from our ten years of service to orphanage graduates in Zhytomyr, Ukraine – all made possible by our amazing donors, supporters, volunteers, and all those praying for us. Thank you!
In 2007, The Shelter officially opened its doors. The Shelter began as our first family day center, where we began meeting and forming relationships with young people in Zhytomyr. The Shelter served our residential care program from 2013 – 2016, and will soon be our first crisis housing facility. We’re excited to see how God will use this home to bless young orphan-parented families over the next ten years!
In 2011, Last Bell opened the Support Center. As our young people grew up and “graduated” from the intense, family-style support of our early day centers, we saw the variety of services they needed as young adults. The new Support Center offered counseling and legal services, and housed our fledgling Stop the Cycle program for orphan parents. Stop the Cycle exploded into one of our most-attended programs, and in 2014 began meeting at a community center to accommodate the dozens of young parents (many single moms) attending our parenting classes.
In 2012, Orphanage #4, the city orphanage, closed down, and the kids were moved to regional institutions – just as doors were opening for us in Zhytomyr’s trade schools. We felt God’s leading to move quickly into the next phase of outreach: forming relationships with those trade schools in order to meet the many teen orphans graduating from rural orphanages and coming to the city to study. Through Educational Outreach, our staff now mentor youth from over half the trade schools in Zhytomyr.
In 2016, Last Bell introduced the Restoration Project, a response to our young people’s need for permanent housing, especially our young families. Through the RP, several orphanage graduates, all young men, have been working under a Last Bell staff member to learn renovation skills, and in the process, renovating the unsafe, unlivable apartments and village homes our young people have inherited.
In 2016, we also “graduated” our first Stop the Cycle group! They’ve been attending our parenting classes and receiving parenting help for several years, and their attitudes and parenting skills have drastically improved. As one young parent said, “With such wonderful, kind people, who set good examples for us, we are moving in the right direction.”
With your support and God’s grace, over the next ten years we will help many more of these precious, unique young people to “not just survive, but thrive!” We’re excited to see our youth maturing into community leaders, transforming the post-Soviet culture around them.