Milana Leshinsky's personal story:

"When I was 12 years old, something terrible happened about 100km from Kiev, Ukraine - a nuclear plant exploded in a small town of Chernobyl.  Our whole school was evacuated in a war-like panic and complete chaos to different parts of Ukraine and Russia.

My home town, occupied by 3 mil. people, was completely wiped out.  No children on the streets, no tourists in what usually were the busiest parts of the city. Absolutely quiet and creepy all around. It seemed as if everyone died.

In about a year, people began slowly returning to their homes and everything seemed normal again.  In fact, it felt like nothing happened just a year ago.

The truth is, it was far from over!  The effects of the radiation continued to cause major health problems, especially in young children whose parents still live in the contaminated areas. The worst part is that even 20 years after the accident, people continue to die. It will take hundreds of years to clean up!

I was so moved by what Chernobyl-International is doing for these poor families, I wanted to do something to help them."

So this year, ten percent of the net proceeds from the tele-summit will be donated to Chernobyl International, a non-profit organization, which provides humanitarian and medical aid programs to the youngest and most vulnerable victims of the Chernobyl disaster – the children.  To learn more about why this organization is important, please read Chernobyl 20 Years Later (PDF).