Dear friends,

We have some very sad and tragic news to share with you about Sergei Avdeev. As you probably recall, Sergei is a graduate of Fominki orphanage (that Wave Church used to sponsor) who sustained serious spinal injuries after falling from a 5th-floor window about 2 years ago. Sergei miraculously survived that accident and after surgery and treatment was able to work last summer as a gardener and then recently in waste management.

Today we received a call that last night Sergei was murdered by, as we were told, a group of skinheads in Sobinka where he lived. We have been working with the former manager of the family dorm where Sergei lived to work out details for his funeral. She was very instrumental in helping us make arrangements for Sergei’s treatment 2 years ago. Estimated minimal expenses for the funeral are $300. This sum has been provided by Children’s Hopechest, and we as a staff have collected additional money to cover any additional expenses.

Sergei has an older brother, but no one has been able to contact him. In situations where there are no relatives or relatives have no means to pay for a funeral, people are buried by the government without any kind of personal touches, etc. Natasha M and Korvan F (who knew Sergei well) will go along with our driver, Sasha, tomorrow morning to meet this dorm manager to purchase and pay for all the necessary items and services related to Sergei’s funeral and then the burial will take place almost immediately.

Please extend our deep condolences to Bill T and all those from Wave Church who knew Sergei.

Vladimir staff