July 5, 2005: Headlines: COS Ukraine: Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Michael Kreidler is a Peace Corps volunteer in Sovietsky, Ukraine, working to help develop the nonprofit sector
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July 5, 2005: Headlines: COS Ukraine: Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Michael Kreidler is a Peace Corps volunteer in Sovietsky, Ukraine, working to help develop the nonprofit sector
Michael Kreidler is a Peace Corps volunteer in Sovietsky, Ukraine, working to help develop the nonprofit sector
"Presently, I am assigned to an entrepreneurs' union, assisting in the development of the organization, and of small and medium businesses locally."
Michael Kreidler is a Peace Corps volunteer in Sovietsky, Ukraine, working to help develop the nonprofit sector
Ukraine is home away from home for Kreidler
By Helen Rosen
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Charlotte, Fla.
July 5, 2005
Twenty-seven-year-old Michael Kreidler began an early search for a world outside his Port Jefferson, N.Y., home. When he was 5, he began reading atlases and almanacs, and was confused as to why his older brother, Ted, had crossed out with ink only one particular flag, that of our Cold War rival, the Soviet Union.
Now he is a Peace Corps volunteer in Sovietsky, Ukraine, working to help develop the nonprofit sector. He has asked his friends and family to support his week-long soccer camp for the youngsters in the town.
"I received a grant of $512 from the U.S. Embassy for the camp. Many things we take for granted in America, like after-school sports programs, are not readily available here," he said. "With few constructive activities in which to participate, young people often adopt habits of smoking and drinking very early."
The camp's theme is "making healthy lifetime decisions," he said.
Kreidler noted that this is the first endeavor of its kind there and, "it is important that we work together as partners to demonstrate to the local government that demand for this service exists and that the project can have a positive effect on the community." Grant money will purchase basics such as balls, nets and cones for the camp, but he seeks additional funds for hand-outs such as T-shirts and certificates, and to create a reserve fund to continue the camp in the future.
Charlotte High School's Class of 1995 valedictorian, Kreidler earned a bachelor's degree in 1999 in history and international relations from the University of Pennsylvania.
"Living with numerous students from overseas increased my interest in different cultures," he said.
In 2000, Kreidler moved to the San Francisco Bay area to work in the nonprofit sector. Beginning in 2002, he worked with the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in Los Altos, Calif.
"I supported overseas grant-making operations in the area of women's health in developing countries around the world," he said. A business trip to Nigeria in October 2003 was the catalyst for his decision to join the Peace Corps, which he views as a step toward a deeper engagement in the field of international development. He plans to return to college to pursue a graduate degree in that area after his Peace Corps service.
In March 2004 he arrived in Ukraine and for three months and lived with a traditional Ukrainian family in the Kiev suburb of Brovary, where he underwent Russian language training and cultural adaptation.
From there he traveled to Sovietsky, an agricultural town of 12,000 in the Crimea, in time to witness the tumultuous run-up to the presidential election that resulted in the "Orange Revolution" in November 2004.
"Presently, I am assigned to an entrepreneurs' union, assisting in the development of the organization, and of small and medium businesses locally," he said. His Peace Corps service ends in May 2006.
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Story Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS Ukraine
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