Jason Kitchen fulfilled his Eagle Scout requirements by raising almost $45,000 of sporting equipment and humanitarian aid items. He traveled to Georgia and, with the help of Georgian scouts, installed basketball hoops in three orphanages. Jason also taught many orphans how to play basketball during his trip. His mother, Celeste Kitchen, took on a huge project to ship a 20-foot container of humanitarian aid to Georgian orphanages and institutions. She coordinated collection and transportation for bedding, mattresses, school supplies, clothing & shoes, wheelchairs, medical supplies, diapers, and other products. The project involved the U.S. State Department, Counterpart International, several non-governmental agencies (NGOs), manufacturers, churches and service organizations, foundations, and private donors. Jason Kitchen has help installing a basketball goal at a Georgian orphanage, below |
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Below: Omar Bumberidze watercolors GCOF member Christina produced calendars in 2004, 2005, and 2006. She also created a set of note cards featuring beautifully painted watercolors by Omar Gumberidze. The 2004 Images of Georgia Calendar raised over $8,000 for the Nutsumbidze Infant Home (also known as the Tbilisi Baby House). This 2004 gift installed a heating system and supplemented the per-child food allotment for six months. Before, each child had a budget of $1.25 for three meals a day. With the gift, this increased to $5.47 a day for all 113 children. |
In May 2005 social workers Chris Deguilo and Joan McNamara traveled to Georgia to train and share techniques. The week-long program united the U.S. professionals with adoption and foster care workers in Georgia and Armenia. The Georgian Ministry of Education co-sponsored the program. Social Worker training, below |
Medical Programs
In October 2004 a medical team assembled by Carolina Adoption Services visited Georgia, and GCOF donated small toys as "courage motivators" for the children treated at each clinic. The medical team included three disciplines: orthopedic surgery, dentistry, and obstetric anesthesiology.
Dr. Tammy Martin visits a patient after surgery for club feet, below 
In September 2006 Hopscotch Adoptions and Kybele sponsored a medical trip by academic and private practice anesthesiologists both in the U.S. and abroad, fellows and obstetricians. The project was coordinated by Dr. Medge Owen, Associate Professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC; Dr. Brittany Clyne of Southeast Anesthesiology in Charlotte, NC; and Robin Sizemore, Executive Director of Hopscotch Adoptions, Inc. Contributions from the Georgian Children’s reunion completed the project. The group visited 19 hospitals (13 in Georgia, 6 in Armenia) in two weeks, gathering information and doing extensive clinical teaching in regional anesthesia. The team was granted a full spectrum of liberties, including bringing the support person (husband or mother) into the delivery or operating room, a practice that is not routine. The project included three conferences attended by over 120 physicians.
Dr. Owen reported:
Anesthesia conditions were much worse than expected in both countries. In Georgia, anesthesia monitors were limited or non-existent. We observed entire surgeries performed with only an occasional finger on the pulse. In Armenia, monitors were more available but they weren’t always used. A few hospitals were well-equipped, but conditions for women were universally poorer. Patients were at significant risk of being paralyzed but awake during surgery. In fact, we observed a number of patients that were awake during surgery! These practices are at least 50 years behind the standards common in the U.S. and Europe.
In conjunction with Carolina Adoption Services in 2003-04, the following institutions were provided with:
New beds in Tskhneti, below |
Another orphanage used a $100 gift to purchase two freestanding kitchen cabinets for a cottage. There used to be a problem with bugs and rodents getting into food, because it had to be stored on the floor. The building, which houses fifteen 3-year-olds, now has no spoilage problem. Kitchen cabinets, below |
The Tskhneti Orphanage was presented 13 beautiful quilts and 100 mattresses through the generosity of Washington State Friends of Russian and Ukrainian Adoptions (FRUA) via the Baker Stegner family. Below: A portion of 100 mattresses for Tskhneti
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In 2001 artists from throughout Georgia donated over 60 works of art that were auctioned in the U.S. to benefit children in Georgian orphanages.
At the 2005 summer GCOF family reunion in North Carolina, adopting families raised over $2,000 at a silent auction.
The Engle family of Conover, NC and their church held an enormous two-day yard sale in July 2005, and raised $4,300 for Georgian orphanages. |
