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Thursday, September 02, 2010
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| 9/9/2008 3:35:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article
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| Naselle’s Eric Hall, center, stands with orphans at the Bread of Life Church in Lugansk, Ukraine. |
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Oysterman Eric Hall, an angel for orphans in Ukraine
Naselle resident helps needy kids
By KEVIN HEIMBIGNER
Observer staff writer
WILLAPA BAY - Eric Hall can be found most days on Willapa Bay between Nahcotta and South Bend as he works for Taylor Shellfish Company as Willapa Division Manager. He has a home in Naselle and one in Shelton, where Taylor's main office is located.
But Hall's heart is in the Ukraine where he has developed a passion for orphans and other disadvantaged people in that region of the world.
"I began a two-year training program in leadership for Taylor Shellfish and one of the seminars I attended was a two-week session on international relations that was held in the Ukraine in 2006," Hall explains. "We met the ambassador, saw the Ukraine culture and government first hand and then spent a day visiting an orphanage in Kiev."
That was all it took for Hall to become dedicated to helping the under-privileged children he met there. "To see what the kids were going through, it inspired me. I was unable to ignore their situation." Hall eventually began a non-profit organization called Angels for Orphans.
In May 2008 Hall again visited the Ukraine and finalized the framework for how to obtain and ship several hundred pairs of shoes, warm coats and medicine to the Ukraine. Hall is doing much more than merely sending needed items to a foreign country, however. "We have been in contact with church pastors in the area and have also recruited Ukrainian college students to help with the work. Missionaries Forrest and Darcy Ferndon have also been a great help to us in meeting these children's needs," Hall explains.
Typically orphans in the Ukraine are treated as second-class citizens and given "very little" in terms of basic human needs or emotional support. "We not only want to help supply needs such as shoes or medicine, but we are working to mentor the children, to help them to realize the importance of receiving an education, and we want to help build their self-confidence," Hall states.
He is organizing a trip to the Ukraine the first week of January 2009 to coincide with the Orthodox Christmas celebration. "I am hoping to be joined by from five to seven volunteers. We will visit orphanages in Kiev and also along the Ukraine-Russia border at some of the poorest places in the region. We hope to help between three and five orphanages while we are over there."
Hall's training supplied by Taylor Shellfish was intended for him to develop leadership qualities in the natural resources venue. He attended Washington agriculture and forester education classes and learned such things as public speaking, state and national government workings, and how to become politically active in policy-making decisions. His training has been beneficial in all those areas for his company.
But by far the biggest effect on the citizens of the world has been Hall's inspired giving to the orphans of the Ukraine and his organizing other volunteers to help the needy in his absence. To learn more about Hall's project or to get involved, go to (www.angelsfororphans.net). Donations can also be made through the Web site.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Thursday, September 03, 2009
Article comment by:
Dario Castiblanco
Thanks so much for being there to see to the spritual nourishiments of orphans and people like me at this trying moment of my life when i needed it most.I am a Colombian serving a short jail term in Africa pending when my case will be called up in the court any moment from now.
I must here ,hasten to confess that my case is a little complicated because of my alleged involvement in a not too legal international trade,but i believe in what the bible says through the mouthpiece of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ that if only we can confess the lord Jesus with our mouths and confess also our sins to one another and believe in our hearts that they are forgiven ,while also forgiving our neighbours,that our sins will be forgiven no matter how scarlet-like they may appear.
So i want you to pray for me and when this evil wind of incarceration blows past me i will not fail to sow a seed of appreciation in your Ministry.The name of your Ministry alone reminds me of what a freeman i was indeed before this time and gives me some strange feeling of faith that if you pray for me, i could actually regain not only my physical freedom,but spiritual freedom indeed.
I have seen the daily bible programme on your website and will follow it up and hope that you will not look unto the degree of me unrighteousness and pray for my freedom.
Thanks and God Bless your Ministry in Jesus name Amen.
Dario Castiblanco
Posted: Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Article comment by:
David Cottrell
Great story - just what I was looking for. By the way, gently, unlike the Canada, the Mexice, the China and the France, Ukraine has respectfully asked that we drop "the" for what was formerly "the" Ukraine. They did that late in 1991 when they declared independence and became simply Ukraine.
All the best,
David Cottrell www.ukraineorphans.net
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