what you can do

Volunteer
We seek physicians, nurses, social workers,  occupational therapists, speech language therapists, and physical therapists.  As we develop our programs, we will seek the counsel of other therapeutic professions. We will put volunteers to work in orphanages, community centers, hospitals, and community project sites.

If you are interested in volunteering , email us your CV and let us know your ideas of how you might be able to help.  Even if we are not able to put you to work right away, it helps us to start the dialog and to have a "talent pool" at the ready. 

Volunteers generally raise funds to pay for their own plane travel, and usually sleep at their project site (usually a local orphanage).  We can talk about the many questions you  probably have after you send your CV and we set aside a time for a phone call. Read on down the page to learn more about our volunteers and what they do.

Donate
If you are moved to make an outright donation to support our work, you can click the "donate now" button on the upper right hand side of this page, or send a check or call us.  If you would like to make a wire transfer or donate stock, email us or call us at 888-CCP-8080.

Corporate Sponsors:  Every program we have outlined in the "how we help" section us this website is looking for corporate donors.  Email us to start a dialog about how we might work together.

Raise Funds

Our supporters have raised funds for us in many ways.  Here are just a few:

- golf tournaments
- car washes
- bake sales
- horse racing
- comedy club events
- coffee shops
- fashion shows
- rock concerts
- casual dress days
- dances
- babysitting pools
- beauty contests
- percentages of product sales
- happy hours
- art auctions
- athletic events
- chocolate festival

Click here to see how other supporters have raised funds and awareness.

If you have an idea, you can either just do it, or email or call us at 888-CCP-8080 and we can brainstorm.  And thank you so much.

Try These Easy Ways to Donate

Goodsearch:  You can donate money to us every time you search the internet!  Go to Goodsearch.  Enter your search term in the box, and where prompted "Who do you Goodsearch for?" enter "chernobyl."  You will then select "Chernobyl Children's Project International."  You can maximize your contributions by adding Goodsearch to your toolbar or home page.

Goodshop:    You can raise funds for us by shopping online from retailers like Apple Store, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Gap, Nordstrom, and many more.  Go to Goodshop, and enter "chernobyl" to designate a percentage of your sales to Chernobyl Children's Project International.

eBay seller? You can designate a percentage of your sales to Chernobyl Children's Project International.  When you list your sale item, in the "Pictures and Details" section, simply select Chernobyl Children's Project International as your charity. 

Create a charity wedding registry, or make a wedding gift:  You can designate CCPI as a wedding gift, or as a "wedding favor" to guests.  Click here, and under "search charities" enter "CCPI."  (And tell your guests to do the same to make their gift.)

Spread the Word

If you like what we are about, we would be honored and appreciative if you would spread the word to your friends and colleagues.  This might be linking to us through your blog, or joining our cause on a social networking site such as Facebook or MySpace.  If you are a teacher, you might do a session about Chernobyl, or volunteering, in your class.  Or perhaps you are a journalist looking for a story.  If you have ideas, contact us.

Visit us on YouTube

Click here to visit our video channel on YouTube.  You'll be able to watch the Academy Award winning film, Chernobyl Heart, and see other short films about our work.

And who are our volunteers?

Click here to see a recent film of our volunteers at work.

Click here to see a volunteer talk about her experience on the CBS Early Morning Show.

Volunteer-ism is truly part of the "DNA" of Chernobyl Children's Project International. 

The organization started in 1991, when Irishwoman and peace activist Adi Roche received an urgent appeal from Belarusian and Ukrainian doctors, asking her to bring children living in contaminated zones to summer holidays in Ireland.  The doctors believed that these visits would restore their health and protect from radioactive forest fires that plague the region in summer.  Irish families started bringing children in at their own expense, and today over 12,000 children from Chernobyl regions have summered in Ireland.

This program continues today, but Chernobyl Children's Project International has dramatically moved forward.   Today, CCPI volunteers work in partnership with peers in communities in Belarus and Ukraine to give them that extra hand up they need to solve their own problems.  All programs have been specifically developed to decrease dependency and to help citizens move forward. Volunteers have delivered over $50 million in humanitarian aid, trekking through six countries overland. Volunteers perform complicated pediatric heart surgeries and save lives, while training and exchanging knowledge with their local peers.  Volunteer masons, architects, plumbers, carpenters, and electricians build state of the art community centers, and improve decrepit and neglected orphanages. (And while they are hard at work, volunteer chefs cook for them!)  Volunteer nurses attend to children in understaffed institutions.  Volunteer physical, speech/language, and occupational therapists go into homes to teach parents how to handle their children's special needs, and into institutions and camps to work hands-on with these exceptional children. 

This spirit of volunteer-ism goes beyond  field work.  Board members, who have substantive business, financial and management backgrounds,  roll their sleeves up and get involved in every aspect of the organization's management, and view projects as long term investments.  Organizations such as Pfizer International and Vodafone offer both funding and project management expertise.  Here in the United States, internationally recognized firms such as  Skadden Arps offer pro bono and discounted legal and accounting services. 

All over the USA and Ireland (and increasingly, Australia), citizen volunteers raise funds in a variety of ways that continue to shock and amaze us.