Few people in the United States understand the true horror that the disaster at Chernobyl inflicted on the children of the region. The film "Children of Chernobyl" produced by Yorkshire Television which reveals the true depths of the tragedy at Chernobyl is not commonly shown on American television. It is a story of deception and cover-up on a grand scale. True legacy of the disaster can be best seen on the children's wards of hospitals. Total hair loss is one of the more visible signs. Sadly for the children, the number of cancer diagnoses is growing alarmingly.

Sadly, the children of Chernobyl are not alone in their suffering. Around the world there are millions of children who live out their short lives without hope, in horror and despair.

Restoring Hope Foundation of Southern California (RHFSC) created to bring help and hope to these children. Its mission is to provide medical and humanitarian aid to children living in impoverished conditions. To children that have experienced:

RHFSC currently addresses these extremely critical needs found throughout the world.

Our Mission: As a not-for-profit organization 501.c(3), the focus of RHFSC is to build bridges of assistance and understanding by providing medical, physical, educational, and psychological assistance to communities and individuals where there has been extreme disaster, disease, trauma, abuse or abandonment.

Our Services: RHFSC provides both aid and educational services. Aid, because the problems can't wait and education, because knowledge is the only way these problems will ever be eliminated. Some of the types of aid provided by RHFSC are:

A Chinese proverb states "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Some of the types of education provided by RHFSC are:

Our Challenges: Approximately 1,200,000 children have been placed in state run orphanages since 1989. In many of the orphanages, the staff is unable to provide adequate meals, suitable clothing, medical supplies, or consistent human contact. In some areas of the former Soviet Union, 85% of births are considered abnormal and result in unhealthy children. 15,000 orphans leave Russian orphanages annually. Of these 8 out of 10 will be incarcerated, become life-long addicts, or commit suicide.

Our Affiliations: RHFSC knows that its mission is enormous. No one organization can solve a problem this large, complex, and widespread. Fortunately, we have allies who are working with us and helping us achieve our goals: