Rose Alaimo came home from Russia on Sunday. Well, all of her except several pieces of her heart. They got left behind with several of the Russian orphans she met in orphanages, a hospital and a summer camp in Yaroslavl, Russia.

In her last two e-mails before heading home, Rose sounded happy and sad, energized and tired, and also frustrated.

Happy because she made some children in difficult circumstances laugh and smile, if only for a few short weeks. Like a little boy named Slava, who, she says "just walks around by himself on the... more

I've heard from Rose Alaimo again, the graduate school student who is volunteering in Yaroslavl, Russia this summer.

Her e-mails are helping me to see how easy it would be to improve the lives of the children in Russia's orphanages, and how hard it can be to do what should be the easy things in life.

Easy things, like helping kids to laugh and sing when the only song the multinational corps of volunteers has in common is "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".

Easy things,... more

Where is it? Yaroslavl Oblast is located in western Russian about equidistant from Moscow and St. Petersburg. It borders the Tver, Moscow, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Kostroma and Vologda Oblasts. It is in the same time zone as Moscow.

What's the biggest city? Yaroslavl, whose population was recently estimated at 613,088 out of a total of 1.4 million for... more

Rose Alaimo has only been in Russia a few days, but her experience is already proving an eye-opener.

You might remember that, back in late May, I introduced you to a Cornell University veterinary student who decided to go to Russia for what some people call a "volunteer vacation". Rose is doing a lot of volunteering, but she clearly isn't getting a lot of time for rest. And it doesn't seem to bother her one bit.

Rose arrived in Yaroslavl on July 23... more

Rose Alaimo doesn't know any Russian orphans. She's never been to a Russian orphanage, or even to Russia itself. But all that is going to change this summer--if Rose gets our help. This young woman from Dallas, Pa. wants to spend three weeks volunteering at a Russian orphanage. But she needs to raise money for travel and other expenses. Not much, $1,800, but that's enough to stretch the budget of somebody who's in grad school studying to be a veterinarian.

That was one of the first things to surprise me about Rose, when... more