About Us / History
November 1989
In response to an urgent appeal from a Deputy of the Ukrainian Parliament, (Volodymyr Yavorivsky) during his visit to Congress and the National Press Club, Dr. and Mrs. Zenon and Nadia Matkiwsky organize a committee to provide an emergency shipment of antibiotics to children’s hospitals in Ukraine. That committee eventually becomes the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund.
February 1990
CCRDF launches its first major airlift from JFK International Airport using an Antonov cargo plane, the Ukrainian-built AN-124 "Ruslan".
April 1990
The Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund is officially registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt charity
July 1990
CCRDF brings 8 Ukrainian children suffering from leukemia to actor Paul Newman’s “Hole in the Wall Gang Camp” in Ashford, CT. The children’s visit is featured in news stories in the New York Times, Newark Star Ledger, Hartford Courant, and “Inside Edition” hosted by Bill O’Reilly.
Under CCRDF’s auspices, one of the leukemic children, 5-year-old Vova Malofienko remains in the US for long-term treatment at Boston Floating Hospital under the care of Dr. Molly Schwenn. Born in Chernihiv, and stricken by fallout from Chornobyl when he was just 2 years old, Vova becomes a cause-celebre, with feature stories in the Boston Globe and Boston Herald.
December 1990
CCRDF coalitions with Rotary International for its 4th major airlift from Bellingham, Washington
March 1991
CCRDF launches is 5th major airlift from Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. Thousands of visitors tour the AN-225 plane and contribute to CCRDF. Over $3 million dollars’ worth of aid shipped to Ukraine, with extensive news coverage in New England press (Boston Globe, Providence Journal, virtually all TV and newspapers in Connecticut & Massachusetts)
June 1991
CCRDF holds its first National Convention, elects a new Board of Directors
August 24, 1991
Ukraine declares its independence from the Soviet Union following the failed military coup d’etat in Moscow
November 1991
CCRDF launches its “Thanksgiving Airlift”, timed to arrive in Ukraine w/ 140 tons of medical & humanitarian cargo on the eve of the national vote to ratify Ukrainian independence. The plane is forced to make an emergency landing in Prague due to hydraulic failure and suspected sabotage, but arrives in time for the December 1st referendum. Independence is ratified by an 80% margin.
July 1992
CCRDF co-founder Dr. Zenon Matkiwsky is invited to testify as an expert witness in US Senate hearings on the Chornobyl aftermath chaired by Senators Joseph Lieberman and Bob Graham. Dr. Matkiwsky and geneticist Dr. Vladimir Wertelecki challenge representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency for their cover-up of Chornobyl’s long-term effects, cite evidence of a sharp increase in children’s thyroid cancer in Ukraine and Belarus.
August 1992
CCRDF launches its 9th airlift from Rickenbacker Air Field in Columbus, Ohio. A news team from Cleveland’s WJW Channel 8 travels with CCRDF to gather footage for a 4-part series on CCRDF and the Chornobyl aftermath. The giant cargo plane used for this mission, the AN-225 MRIYA creates a sensation at Rickenbacker Air Show. Over $3 million dollars’ worth of cargo delivered, including Ukraine’s first flow cytometer.
September 1992
World Health Organization confirms an 80-fold increase in thyroid cancer in children exposed to Chornobyl fallout, effectively vindicating CCRDF position at Senate hearings 6 weeks before.
September 1992
WJW in Cleveland broadcasts 4-part series on CCRDF’s hospital programs in Ukraine, narrated by future CNN correspondent Martin Savidge. Extensive footage of progress made at CCRDF’s partner hospitals in Kyiv, Lviv, Chernihiv and Irpin.
April 1993
CCRDF’s New Haven Chapter launches a campaign to raise over $90,000 to provide life-saving treatment at Yale-New Haven Medical Center for a young leukemia victims, Marianka Romanych.
June 1993
CCRDF hosts its second National Convention with keynote speaker US Senator Bill Bradley (New Jersey)
June 1994
CCRDF airlifts a General Electric Magnetic Resonance Imaging System (MR Max) to the Kyiv City Emergency Hospital & Trauma Center. Over the next 6 years, the MRI provides diagnostic tests for over 10,000 patients, enables doctors to treat cancers and traumatic injuries.
July 1994
CCRDF is awarded a $350,000 grant from the US Agency for International Development for delivery of training and medication for hospitals specializing in the treatment of childhood cancers in Ukraine.
February 1995
Ukraine’s first President, Leonid Kravchuk visits New Jersey as a guest of CCRDF, meets with Governor Whitman and presents a lecture at Princeton’s Wilson School of Diplomacy.
March 1995
CCRDF receives the New Jersey Governor’s Volunteer Award from Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, and is honored at the Governor’s Mansion in Princeton.
April 1995
CCRDF holds a national conference on the treatment and diagnosis of children’s leukemia and thyroid cancer in Kyiv.
May 1995
CCRDF’s New Haven Chapter hosts an award dinner honoring US Senator Joseph Lieberman and Yale doctors for their support of the Chornobyl relief effort.
August 1995
CCRDF delivers $4.5 million dollars worth of medical aid, including a large volume of cancer medication and diphtheria vaccine to Kyiv. USAID Director Greg Huger hails CCRDF for its accomplishments in delivering $5.5 million dollars’ worth of medical aid on a grant budget of $350,000, leveraging $16 worth of aid for every dollar it received in federal grants.
November 1995
CCRDF receives a grant for $263,000 from the Monsanto Corporation to launch its Women’s & Children’s Health Initiative in Dnipropetrovsk and Vinnytsia.
November 1995
CCRDF establishes a permanent office in Kyiv, Ukraine to monitor all in-country activities. The first country director is Christina Bonacorsa.
December 1995
Ambassador Yuri Shcherbak appoints CCRDF Program Director Alexander Kuzma to serve as the national coordinator of the Chornobyl Challenge ’96 commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster in 1996.
February 1996
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (USA) and CCRDF host the first commemorative observance of the Chornobyl 10th Anniversary featuring US Senator Frank Lautenberg and Academy Award-winning actor Jack Palance.
April 1996
CCRDF organizes a major retrospective conference on Chornobyl’s 10th Anniversary at Yale University and the Harriman Institute at Columbia. CCRDF also organizes the official national commemoration of the Chornobyl 10th Anniversary at the Kyiv National Opera Theatre co-sponsored by Monsanto and other corporate sponsors.
May 1996
CCRDF is honored at the White House ceremony commemorating the 10th Anniversary of Chornobyl, hosted by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore. Eleven-year-old leukemia survivor Vova Malofienko and CCRDF’s Alex Kuzma are invited as guest speakers.
August 1996
CCRDF co-founders Dr. and Mrs. Zenon and Nadia Matkiwsky become the first US citizens to receive the Presidential Medal of Honor of Ukraine.
March 1997
CCRDF launches its 18th airlift from Newark International Airport; opens new hospital partnerships in Vinnytsia and Dnipropetrovsk.
March 1997
US Senator Frank Lautenberg files a private relief bill to protect Chornobyl survivor Vova Malofienko and his family from deportation on humanitarian grounds. Vova’s case is widely reported in the New York Times and other newspapers
August 1997
The John Deere Foundation awards a grant of $350,000 to CCRDF, the largest grant Deere & Company ever awarded for an international charitable project.
September 1997
CCRDF hosts its third National Convention with health experts and dignitaries from the US, Canada and Ukraine. Featured speakers include Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, CNN Reporter Martin Savidge, and future New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey.
November 1997
CCRDF wins praise from First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton during her goodwill mission to Ukraine; Mrs. Clinton witnesses delivery of CCRDF ambulance to our partner hospital in Lviv.
December 1997
WTIC-TV, Channel 61, a Fox affiliate in Hartford, CT broadcasts a four-part series featuring CCRDF’s mission in Ukraine.
January 1998
CCRDF’s achievements are featured in the Connecticut Section of the Sunday
New York Times.
September 1998
CCRDF’s Cleveland Chapter hosts a benefit concert featuring the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at historic Severance Hall in Cleveland
November 1998
CCRDF launches its 20th medical airlift, provides emergency aid to flood victims in the Carpathian Mountain region
February 1999
US State Department cites CCRDF as an exemplary humanitarian organization: “The service you perform is one of the most efficient uses of U.S. government funds that can be envisioned.” [Charles Hardesty, Director of Humanitarian Assistance to the NIS]
April 1999
CCRDF holds a gala reception at the Ukrainian Institute of America honoring First Lady Hillary Clinton for her humanitarian work in Eastern Europe. Mrs. Clinton hails CCRDF as a “remarkable organization” that embodies the very finest American values of compassion and caring for others.
April 1999
CCRDF’s Rochester, NY Chapter launches a major campaign to improve conditions at the Poltava Maternity Hospital. With technology provided by CCRDF, the PMH achieves a 90% reduction in infant mortality within 1 year.
October 1999
The Volynian Regional Children’s Medical Center in Lutsk hosts a national training conference on neonatal intensive care under the auspices of CCRDF. The VRCMC reports a 50% reduction in infant mortality since the introduction of technology provided by CCRDF.
March 2000
CCRDF delivers medical shipment to Krasnodon to aid the families of 80 coal miners killed in an explosion at the Barakovo Mine.
July 2000
CCRDF delivers medical aid to a hospital in Sevastopol, Crimea care of the Ukrainian Battleship Slavutych
August 2000
Connecticut Governor John Rowland praises the work of CCRDF during a live broadcast during the OPSAIL 2000 in New London, Connecticut aboard the Ukrainian tall ship “Batkivshchyna”
October 2000
The Volynian Regional Children’s Medical Center in Lutsk officially dedicates the “Matushevsky Neonatal Intensive Care Ward” in honor of a doctor who perished during the Stalin purges. The American benefactors meet with a crowd of children whose lives were saved thanks to technology provided by CCRDF.
December 2000
The Ukrainian Government officially closes the last operating reactor at the Chornobyl Nuclear Station.
March 2001
Olympic and World Skating Champion Viktor Petrenko organizes a gala fundraising program featuring 16 international skating stars including Brian Boitano, Sasha Cohen, Philippe Candeloro and Lucinda Ruh to raise over $120,000 for CCRDF. The program, entitled “Viktory for Kids” was organized by CCRDF’s Hartford Chapter with sponsorships by Cingular Wireless, Connecticut Natural Gas, Western Union and Eurotech. The proceeds are used to establish a state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit in Mr. Petrenko’s honor at the Odessa Regional Children’s & Maternity Hospital.
April 2001
CCRDF and the World Information Transfer co-sponsor a major conference at the United Nations commemorating the 15th Anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster.
June-August 2001
CCRDF sponsors the Great Lakes Expedition of the Ukrainian tall ship “Batkivshchyna” with festivals and fundraisers in Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago.
July 2001
Award-winning photographer Joseph Sywenkyj, a former CCRDF intern exhibits his photos at the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC to draw attention to the plight of children living in Ukrainian orphanages.
October 2001
Viktor Petrenko accompanies CCRDF during the official opening of the neonatal intensive care unit established in his honor in Odessa.
April 2002
CCRDF launches its 30th medical airlift and hosts a national conference on neonatal intensive care sponsored by Procter & Gamble, Nestles, NZ Techno and other corporations. The Fund publishes a Ukrainian-language edition of a comprehensive “Manual of Neonatology” with copyright permission granted by the Lippincott Company.
October 2002
Archbishop Antony of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (USA) and a delegation of 40 pilgrims visit the Zaluchya Orphanage in Ivano-Frankivsk Province to examine the capital improvements that CCRDF has made in the living conditions for the children.
November 2002
CCRDF hosts a regional medical training conference in Lviv that draws over 300 cardiac surgeons, cardiologists and neonatal intensive care specialists. The conference is funded by the Medtronic Foundation.
April 2003
CCRDF launches its 14th sea shipment, including a heart-lung machine and other critical supplies for the creation of a new infant cardiac surgery center in Lviv, and critical supplies for hospitals in Rivne, Chernihiv, Kyiv and Uzhorod.
October 2003
CCRDF hosts Viktory for Kids in Danbury Connecticut raising funds to purchase medical equipment for the Odessa Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital for Viktor Petrenko’s home city of Odessa
November 2004
CCRDF hosts its 15 th Anniversary National Convention in East Hanover, New Jersey. Archbishop Anthony, Fr. Bohdan Lukie, and Tanya Vena were honored for their work with and for the Fund.
December 2004
CCRDF launches its 31 st sea shipment laden with over $500,000 worth of humanitarian aid.
-May 2005, Mrs. Olena Welhasch-Nyzhnykevych accepts $150,000 grant from Philip Morris to be used for CCRDF’s oncology program in Kharkiv, Rivne, and Zhytomyr