We've Moved!!

Hey all, more exciting news! So many people have stepped up to help and the most recent contribution is the new website! From here forward, all updates will be posted at http://3000milesforukraine.com/ So head over there!

Post #4: The Neglected Crisis a World Away

I have been overwhelmed by support from friends and family in the past couple of weeks. It has been encouraging to see so many people ask to get involved in the trip. But while the bike trip is certainly exciting, and I am getting myself in gear for it, I want to use this platform to share the untold story of a crisis a world away. If I can borrow a minute of your day, I think that the story of the plight of orphans in Ukraine is one that deserves your attention.

Where are their parents??

It's hard to imagine turning your child out on the streets or leaving a newborn in the hospital, but every year more than 1,000 newborns are left in hospitals and are eventually handed over to shabby, state run orphanages. More shocking still is the presence of more than 100,000 orphans in the country, 30,000 of whom live in cramped, underdeveloped orphanages. Many thousands of orphans have no homes at all. Economic conditions in some of Ukraine's most impoverished districts have caused parents to abandon their children. But as you might expect, the primary source of orphans is single mothers, often still teenagers, who lack the ability or the confidence to raise young children. The result is a destructive cycle of orphans who become parents who create orphans.

So how bad is it?

An orphan crisis of this magnitude has devastating consequences. For example, 60-70% of boys who are forced to leave state run orphanages at age 16 turn to crime to sustain themselves. The same percentage of girls turn to prostitution. Crime and prostitution are generating other problems. Sexually transmitted diseases are becoming rampant and a generation of fatherless children are growing up without any perception of authority. Perhaps that is the reason that 1 in 6 orphans will commit suicide before turning 30.

Who is helping?

There is some encouraging news. Sometimes in the worst places, God is working the hardest. There are 9,700 protestant or evangelical churches in Ukraine, 280 Christian missions, and 400 Christian rehab centers. Young Life (www.younglife.org) is working with faith based orphanages, some of which specialize in caring for mentally disabled orphans, to provide as much structure and and support as they can. The money that I raise is going to Young Life's ministry.

I hope this puts the problem in perspective. Ukraine is not a random country that happens to have orphans. There is a very real crisis there and a very real opportunity to show young children what the love of Christ looks like.

If you would like to know more, or if you would like to become involved in my effort to raise awareness about these orphans, please do not hesitate to comment or shoot me an email (russell.york@gmail.com). I implore you to prayerfully consider making a donation of any amount.

More updates about the trip coming soon!

-Russell

Post #3: PHC to help publicize!!

Hey all,

This update is a little late in the day but there is exciting news! Patrick Henry College has agreed to publicize my ride on the front page of their site (phc.edu - article coming soon) and in a number of their printed publications. So stay posted for that! Will link to the article when it's up!

Also! In the next couple weeks I'll be teaming up with some fellow bloggers to get the word out. Brace yourself for an artistic photo shoot real soon ;)

Please be in prayer for the 50 fundraising letters that went in the mail today. The Lord provides.

Finally! Below is the official ROUTE ACROSS AMERICA MAP. This map will be frequently updated as the route comes together. For now, the only thing that is certain is the beginning and the end. Route suggestions are welcome!

Post #2: Video from the trail!

Last Sunday, Ryan Gilles and I went on a 90 mile training ride from Purcellville into DC and back. He made this video somewhere along the trail. Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for watching! Check back for some cool announcements on Monday!

Post #1: I am biking across America!

This summer, I will be cycling approximately 3,200 miles across the United States, from Washington, DC to San Diego, CA to raise money and awareness for Young Life’s ministry to disabled orphans in the Ukraine. I am contacting you to enlist your support for my journey and for the cause it will benefit.

The fact is that sanctity of human life is depreciating in value all over the world as global society becomes increasingly secular. Coupled with unprecedented apathy in the west, the application of dangerous, dehumanizing worldviews have left many to face social tragedies with a low expectation of human charity. I hope to dispel the idea, for at least a few people, that my generation is unwilling to make a difference. Below you will find details about the ministry in Ukraine, the fight for sanctity of human life around the globe, and the trip I am taking this summer.

Background: The Global Assault on Human Rights

“So God created mankind in his own image” – Genesis 1:27

In 1922 a man named Leon Whitney formed the American Eugenics Society (AES). Whitney was the product of Darwin and Freud, believing that humans were not special or different from animals, but could be bred and perfected into a better species. All through the 1920’s and even into the 1930’s, America suffered from an egregious undervaluing of human life. Mentally disabled patients were treated terribly, stripped of their human dignity. It was not until 1972 that the AES was renamed and all but disbanded, perhaps as a result of the Civil Rights Movement. But a year later, in 1973, a landmark Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, codified in America’s law a serious disregard for the intrinsic value of human life. Almost forty years later we are still fighting the skeptics who do not see men as the carriers of eternal souls but as highly evolved machines. That is America’s story, a story that pales in comparison to much of the rest of the world.

Crisis: Mentally Disabled Orphans in Ukraine

“A Father to the Fatherless…is God in his Holy dwelling.” – Psalm 68:5

The thing about human rights is that they are not merely American-human rights. As Christians, we are charged to look past the flesh that masks the soul within. Romans 8:5 says, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the Spirit.” It can be difficult, as Americans, to see the urgency in promoting civil rights on a global scale – until we remember that nationality is not a distinction God observes. In Ukraine, as in America one hundred years ago, mentally disabled children are scorned, rejected, and sent to state-run institutions. Since 1995 the number of abandoned children, disabled or otherwise, has increased 50% with estimates of total children living on the streets at over 100,000. Another 80,000 live in state run institutions. The state run orphanages for the mentally disabled are the worst, nicknamed “psycho neurological death camps”.

Solution: Young Life’s Ministry to Ukraine

Young Life is a Christian organization that ministers to children around the world through a variety of programs. In the U.S., they mentor students after school and host camps year round. In Ukraine, they work with privately run, faith-based orphanages that take in mentally disabled children. At the moment, the government in Ukraine prevents substantial monetary backing of the orphanages, so Young Life has looked to other means of getting the money into the country. To date, consistent financial support has been impossible. Young Life’s newest plan is to do actual business development in Ukraine to create sustainable, internal financial backing for their youth-outreach. I will be a part of a team heading to Ukraine to assist that effort in July.

Why 3,200 Miles Across America?

“The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me” – Psalm 137:8

Why the bike trip? This trip fulfills more than just my lifelong dream to sit on a really skinny seat for forty days: it is part of a larger movement to spotlight Young Life’s ministry in Ukraine. Beyond that my hope is that it will provide an avenue for those who would otherwise be unable to support the ministry in Ukraine.

I hope that you will consider supporting my efforts this summer. The money that I raise will go directly towards Young Life’s Ukraine ministry – financing the orphanages, awareness, and business development.

If you would like to get on my email list you can subscribe to it on the right side of the page. Otherwise, this blog will keep you updated on the journey!