Chernobyl Children Appeal was established in  Aug.1994 after a small group of people had raised enough money to bring 25 children from Mozyr, Republic of Belarus, to stay with host families in the Newry area.This project was a resounding success and proved to be the catalyst for even greater things to come.

 

To meet the needs of its growth CCA went through several major changes.

In 1995 we moved to an office space at 6 Abbey Yard, Newry and then in 1999 moved to 52c Monaghan Street, Newry, then in June 2000 to our current office in Ballymena. In 1996 CCA was registered as a Limited Company and applied for our current charitable status. We established 12 self-financing support groups throughout N. Ireland including one in the Republic of Ireland. CCA was registered in Belarus as the Bel/Irish CCA, (a legal necessity for charity givers). In October 2001 CCA opened its first charity shop in Irvinestown County Fermanagh.The shop is staffed on a voluntary basis by members of our Fermanagh Branch.

As we stand poised to face the new millennium and its challenges, CCA is a fully registered Company and Charity. It is also registered with the Belarussian Government as a Social Organisation. CCA has also established links with several hospitals within Belarus/ Ukraine and in N. Ireland who inform the Office on how to best provide medical assistance. This relationship has lead to on-site cross-training exchanges, an expansion of CCA’s Medical Exchange Programme for Belarussian doctors here in the U.K. which has been in place since 1995.

Although "Chernobyl Children Appeal (NI) Ltd." is the biggest supplier of medical and humanitarian aid in Northern Ireland and takes out the greatest numbers of children from the Chernobyl affected zones for annual respites from contamination, not enough is being done. It needs the continued broad-based, and cross-community support it has always enjoyed but it needs greater involvement from the entire community to see significant effects toward preserving and enriching the physical and emotional health of the Belarussian/Ukraine children and their families.
It has been said

“We never stand so tall as when we stoop to help a child. ”

If you have personally contributed to our charity, thank you. If you can inspire others to aid these people, you are helping to make the difference needed to help the otherwise forgotten people of Belarus and Ukraine. A people forced to suffer through no fault of their own.