OLL School Helps Orphans in Need of Medical Care

Students and faculty at in Malverne raised more than $300 to help orphans in the Ukraine, Ethiopia and Russia who need medical care.

The school collected donations for the Long Island-based charity Operation Hearts and Homes during its on Jan. 29 and then again on Feb. 2 when students participated in a Dress Down Day. Each student was required to make a minimum donation of $1 in order to part with their school uniforms for the day, but families could give as much as they wanted to donate, Kristen Bies, a math teacher at OLL, told Patch.

Bies and first grade teacher Maria Monfoletto, who are both in charge of the school’s missions program, organized the fundraising efforts together. “She was the creative mind behind it,” Bies said of her co-worker.

Although this is the first year OLL has collected funds for Operation Hearts and Homes, the charity has held a special place in Bies’ heart for years. Four years ago, after her parents’ attempt to adopt a child from the Ukraine fell through, her family instead hosted an orphan from the country through the charity.

Alina, 9, stayed with the family for two weeks in their Massapequa home while she received medical treatment for her visual impairments. The Bies family donated their time to care for her and take her to appointments with doctors, who also worked pro-bono for the charity, which pays for the orphans’ airfare, Bies explained.

Every summer since then, the Bies family has welcomed Alina back into their home so she can receive follow-up treatment and represent the charity. They even cover her airfare.

“We've come to know her as a sister,” Bies said. “She loves coming here.”

This year, Alina, now 14, had to move her trip to later in the year, so the family instead took in another child during the summer -  a boy, believed to be around 11 years old (His age is unidentifiable because he has no birth certificate.) from Ethiopia named Muhammed. 

“He came over here for annual checkups,” Bies said. “It was the first time in his life he had received one from an American doctor.”

Then, Alina arrived in the fall, which made it possible for her to visit with some of the students at OLL, those in Grades 6-8.

“She stayed in my classroom and they had the opportunity to meet her,” Bies said. “She isn't fluent in English, but we can communicate without words. It was an eye-opening experience for the students.”

Bies hopes her school will be able to continue to raise funds for the charity going forward. “This is a really good mission. [OLL] is a really small school community very much like Operation Hearts and Homes is,” she said. “The two really go well together.”