As Holiday Season approaches and AmCham Christmas Charity Reception is close, we invite all members to think about giving back to the community.

Please consider supporting our principal charities promoting the health and well-being of Latvia’s children and women:

Children's Hospital Foundation, which takes care of the children's health. Campaign “Angels Above Latvia” is the biggest charity campaign the Foundation organizes every year around Christmas time, and this year the goal is to provide support for at least 264 children with ASD, mobility impairments, neurological disorders or in emergency situations when a child needs special medication, treatment or diagnostics abroad.

The Latvian Foster Family Association promotes raising children left without parental care in a family environment. The Association is comprised of 198 families with 416 children in various regions of Latvia. As every year, the Association holds campaign "Christmas Angels" and welcomes both financial and in-kind donations – sweets, Christmas gifts and prizes for 416 children from foster families at the Christmas celebration on December 28.

Funds raised for the Pink Train Foundation will be used to support women in Latvia diagnosed with breast cancer, covering the costs of counselling and/or physiotherapy. This support is also extended to women from Ukraine diagnosed with this disease and seeking refuge in Latvia. In 2024 the Pink Train Foundation will celebrate its 10th birthday, and looks forward to an eventful and fruitful anniversary year, raising awareness and continuing to provide the much-needed support for breast cancer patients.

Ronald McDonald House Charities Latvija (RMHC Latvija) is grateful for the support of AmCham members for the Children's Care Mobile over this past year. In 2023, the Children's Care Mobile has provided more than 5200 medical consultations to children in the regions of Latvia. 370 consultations have been provided to Ukrainian children currently residing in Latvia. The Mobile Clinic in Ukraine has also continued its operations providing medical care to more than 16500 Ukrainian residents. To improve and extend their services in Latvia and Ukraine, RMHC Latvija would highly appreciate both financial and in-kind donations of services and goods.

SOS Children’s Villages, a provider of long-term family-based care for children who have lost their parents and supporter of vulnerable families in three Family Support centers as well as five Support centers for foster families, guardians and adoptive parents in Riga, Bauska, Valmiera, Kuldīga and Gulbene, is seeking both financial contributions and in-kind donations. Financial support will be directed towards the organization’s preventive program ”For New Parents” to offer emotional and informational support for new parents from the First Emotional Aid (FEA) mothers. Currently, there is a high demand for this program, making support critically essential.

Please consider donating to one or all of these charities either directly or at our Christmas charity raffle on December 7th, thus making an impact on the lives of local families.