Good Samaritan Children’s Charities

Good Samaritan Children’s Charities, LLC was founded in 2009 by Matt Gramstad and James Waite, DMD after traveling to Nagydobrony the previous two summers as volunteers at the Good Samaritan Reformed Children’s Home. The home cares for over 65 girls from ages 3 to 24 and employees 30 or more local villagers such as care takers, kitchen workers, farm and construction workers. The Home is ably led by Katko Laszlo, Jr., who has assumed the directorship from his father and founder, Laszlo, Sr. Many individuals and groups take advantage of the hospitality and convenience of the Home while visiting the area on mission or educational trips. Good Samaritan Children’s Charities was founded to more directly benefit the children of the home, the staff, and village. The humanitarian crisis caused by the invasion of eastern Ukraine and the subsequent displacement of as many as 800,000 persons has led us to expand our vision to encompass select hospitals and doctors and to work with other charitable or philanthropic organizations.

 

Otchiy Dim (Father’s House) is a charitable organization that responds to the needs of orphans and children at risk in Ukraine. They run a series of programs designed to create a path to societal integration for children of all ages. Built on the principles of family life and human dignity, their integrated system of sophisticated rehabilitation techniques is adaptable to the needs of each and every individual in their care.

 

Hospitals

· National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery

         Sergiy Siromakha, MD, PhD

         Administrative Director

         6 M. Amosov Street

         03680 Kyiv-110, Ukraine

· Children’s Hospital, Mukacheve, Orthopedic Department

         Yuriy Demyan, MD, PhD

         13 Yavornitskogo Street

         Mukacheve, Transcarpathia, Ukraine 89600

 

Doctor’s / Clinics

· Christian Medical Center, Mukacheve

Matt Gramstad is a founder of Good Samaritan Children’s Charities. He is graduated from the Northern Kentucky University Entrepreneurship program. He currently works for Duke Electric as Project Manager for power plant maintenance shut-downs. Matt handles administrative details at the dental clinic and endures hours of cards, soccer,  softball, and general playful abuse at the hands of his 65 girlfriends.

James Waite, DMD is one of the staff dentists but also has extensive background in meat processing, restaurant management, and animal science and often consults on dairy herd improvement, food processing, kitchen operations and facility improvements. Jim brain stormed the transitional housing project. Major emphasis for 2019 is improving nutrition and fire safety. At Ochiy Dim, priorities are safety and fire protection and the new school project. Dr. Waite has established working connections with the groups listed above and frequently travels throughout Ukraine. He has served as an international election observer in five elections. His wife, Irina, is Ukrainian.

Richard W. Goff is a former VP, Meat Plant Operations for Kroger Co. Dick also has extensive experience working with groups such as United Way, Shriner’s Hospital, Cincinnati Public Schools, and Indiana University.

Donn Mettens, DMD is an invaluable resource and generously consults and advises Good Samaritan Children’s Charities. He is director of Ukraine for SARA.

Dr. Waite talks with former First Lady of Ukraine and founder of Ukraine 3000, Katerina Yushchenko prior to the annual awards ceremony of the Association of Philanthropies of Ukraine. Civic organizations and community charities are a relatively new concept for Ukrainians as they were prohibited under the Soviet regime. Incredibly effective organizations have emerged in the past few years and even more so  in response to the invasion in the eastern oblasts.

Drs. Orosi Pal and Vasco Laci of the Christian Medical Center take a rare break from seeing patients at their privately owned clinic in Mukachevo. They own their own CAT scan—and serve the entire region. The government owned machines are often broken. A scan fee may be as little as $35, if the patient has the ability to pay! The clinic has over 200,000 unique patients in a region of 2,000,000 persons. They  are a private, non-profit clinic and do not receive direct support from the government. No patient is ever turned away based on inability to pay

Supporting Good Samaritan

Children’s Home of Nagydobrony, Transcarpathia, and

Otchiy Dim (Father’s House)

Children’s Home, Kyiv,Ukraine and

Allied Hospitals and Doctors since 2009