December, 2013

Dear friends of Russian Jewish Community Foundation

My Name is Nikolay Starkov. I am 26 year old, and now starting my first year in academic world.

I was born in Ukraine, and made “alia” with my mother and uncle in 1993. I am the eldest brother in the family, my younger brother name is Itzik from my mother's second marriage.

I was drafted to the I.D.F in 2006 to 2009, I served as a commander of soldiers training in the Air Force, and it was a difficult but very satisfying time and it was a very important period in my life, I realized I did important work for my country.

I'm studying at the Academy of Design and Visual Communication. This is my second semester of my degree, out of 8. As for now my average grade is 93.3, hopefully it will stay that way, with the financial support that I receive from you via IMPACT it is much easier for me to concentrate on my studies, without it I doubt that I would be able to keep my average above the 90’s.

At the “Latet” program in which I take a part as part of the IMPACT scholarship, things are going well.

We at “Latet” give away food for the poor, and also help Holocaust survivors with their needs.

This is a great privilege for me. I am also happy to tell you that everything is going well, my mother and girlfriend are fine.

I hope that everything will stay nice and quiet around here.
I hope that your families and community are doing well, and that you are having a good and healthy year.

Again thank you very much for your generosity, it makes me optimistic to know that there are people like you, which are willing to help in such a tremendous way.

Wishing you all the best,
Yours, Nikolay Starkov.