Foundation For Children: The Polish Children's Home

Longtime collectors will recall Christopher's reports in Starlight magazine about the children who live in a Polish orphanage near one of the workshops that creates Radko ornaments. Photos of those lovable children and updates about their activities supported by Starlight Family members through the Christopher Radko Foundation for Children, as well as by Christopher himself were a regular feature of the magazine. We are happy to bring that feature to you with these photos from Christopher's albums and a bit of history about the Polish Children's Home.

An adventurous child's dream, the ``fully loaded" playground is modeled after the celebrated Diana Ross Playground in New York's Central Park. Originally built as an elementary school, the Children's Home was converted to its present purpose as an orphanage after World War II to provide care for boys and girls whose parents had been killed. Today, the children who live there have lost their parents in a way that is now more common but equally heartbreaking. ``Some of these parents are addicted to drugs and alcohol, while others have physically abused their children," Christopher wrote in Starlight ``The children have inherited tragic childhoods and shattered homes."

All of the children, aged five to 18, turned out for the playground's dedication this spring. Some couldn't wait until the ceremony was over to start climbing! Christopher met these young wards of the state when the Polish Children's Home was rededicated in the early '90s. Located in beautiful countryside about 75 miles from the nearest major town, the orphanage was struggling. Adequate government funding was not available for its operation, and the charity of the farmers and laborers living nearby could not provide sufficient resources, either. Christopher became a major benefactor in 1995, underwriting the cost of the children's arts and crafts instruction and recreational programs, as well as many other refreshing things, small and large, that can make a child's day brighter. In future issues, we will share many of these with you and tell you how you can make your own contribution to the boys and girls of the Children's Home through the charitable foundation Christopher began. Here now is a record of a recently successful project entirely sponsored by the Foundation: the dedication this spring of a first-rate playground on the Children's Home property!

Christopher smiled with the Home's faculty and directors, who were as delighted with the playground as the young residents.

The children had never seen so many different ways to slide, swing and climb, but they caught on without lessons!

After plenty of play, everybody was eager for a bite to eat. The kids loved the wienie roast that wrapped up their day!

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