Message from Russia

[Valentin]

Dear Friends,

Please excuse me for any inconvice caused by this message.

My name is Valentin. I am student and I live with my mother in small city 
Kaluga, in Russia. My mother is invalid. She cannot see and she receive pension 
from the government very rare which is not enough even for medications. 

I work very hard every day to be able to buy the necessities and medications 
for my mother, but my salary is very small, because my studies still not 
finished. 

Due to the deep crisis, authorities stoped gas in our district and we cannot 
heat our home anymore. I do not know what to do, because the weather is very 
cold here already and I'm very afraid that if the temperature will be lower 
than 0 degree in our sleeping room, we will not be able to survive. 

I applied to local Red Cross and they explained me that many people ask them 
for help every day and they cannot help to each family. They adviced me to 
search help from individuals. 

Thanks to free public Internet access in our local library, I was able to find 
several addresses, including yours and I decided to appeal to you with a prayer 
in my heart for a small help. If you have any old used sleeping bag, warm 
blanket, warm clothes in size L or XL, portable heater, canned food, vitamins, 
water boiler, medicines against cold weather, any hygiene products, I will be 
very grateful you if you could send it to our home address: 

Valentin Mikhailin,
Rileewa Ulica 6-45, 
Kaluga 248030 
Russia. 

If you think that it would be better or easier for you to help with some money, 
please writes me back to me and I will provide you with details how to send it 
safely, if you agree. This way to help is very good, because in this case I 
will be able to buy a portable stove and heat our home during the winter. 

I hope to hear from you very soon and I pray that you can help us. I also hope 
very much that this hard situation will become better in our country very soon. 

>From all my heart I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2006. 
>Please excuse me, once more, for any inconvience I could cause you with this 
>message. 

Valentin,
Kaluga.  Russia.