Ruslana to perform benefit concert for Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund (04/24/05)

Ruslana to perform benefit concert for Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Rock star Ruslana announced this week that she will perform a benefit concert during the week of Eurovision 2005 to raise money for the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund.

Proceeds will supply hospitals in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk with high-quality neo-natal intensive care equipment and support the Dzherelo physical rehabilitation center in Lviv.

Ruslana's concert is slated for Tuesday, May 17, in the courtyard of the Arena Entertainment Complex at Bessarabska Square near Kyiv's main train station.

Organizers expect it will draw between 3,000 and 4,000 concert-goers, who will already be in Kyiv to attend the Eurovision 2005 semi-finals and finals on May 19 and 21.

"In this way, through the possibility of Eurovision, we will be able raise the issue, not just quietly or with a whisper, but very loudly, confidently and at one moment," Ruslana said at the fund's April 19 press conference in Kyiv.

It was Ruslana's initiative to dedicate her concert to Ukraine's ill children, and she selected the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund as her charity of choice, according to the press release announcing the concert.

Ruslana has worked with the Dzherelo Children's Rehabilitation Center since 1999 - years before her international fame - and has been providing assistance and support, as well as performing for its patients.

The singer described her close relations with the children, who look up to her and reveal their thoughts and worries to her.

"I don't have any personal interests to gain, and I don't have interests in improving my image," Ruslana said. "I'm doing this simply because I believe it's needed."

Among those hospitals benefiting from Ruslana's effort is Children's City Clinical Hospital No. 3 in Dnipropetrovsk headed by Dr. Ihor Makedonskyi.

The hospital hopes to increase the number of beds it has for infant resuscitation from 12 to 25, Dr. Makedonskyi said. A children's hospital catering to newborns needs one bed per 1,000 deliveries, he said, and the hospital handles 25,000 deliveries a year.

"It's very important and pragmatic that the fund and Ruslana turned their attention, above all, toward newborn babies, because it's a realistic possibility of giving children a chance to survive, and we need to start at that point," Dr. Makedonskyi said. "This offers a real possibility of reducing disability in children."

Dzherelo Managing Director Myroslav Nykolaev also expressed gratitude for Ruslana's role in supporting his center, and particularly in the life of his disabled daughter, Martusia.

An example of Ruslana's support is a concert she organized at the center that drew Lviv's entrepreneurs, who got their first glance at the work the center was doing for children with cerebral palsy and neurological disorders.

Since its establishment in 1993, Dzherelo has received more than $1 million in support from Ukrainian Canadians, Mr. Nykolaev said.

The Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund is a U.S.-based charity that has worked in Ukraine for the past 15 years, delivering more than $52 million worth of hospital supplies and medical equipment.

The fund is looking for corporate benefactors to join firms such as Ernst & Young, McDonalds and KP Publications, said Olena Welhasch-Nyzhnykevych, the fund's country director.

Tickets to Ruslana's benefit concert will go on sale some time this week, and those seeking further information can visit the fund's website at www.childrenofchornobyl.org.

A VIP section will offer comfortable seating and access to a catered after-party reception, where concert-goers will have the opportunity to meet Ruslana and get her autograph.

Information can be obtained by calling the fund directly in Kyiv at (044) 494-1535 or e-mailing [email protected].

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