Dinan called Dr. Greg Foltz, the executive director of St. Andre Home, and asked Foltz if he might help them find the girl. If ever the expression ‘needle in a haystack’ fit a situation, this was it, Foltz thought. Besides, he had plenty of under-privileged children in Maine to worry about without trying to find one in Russia.

But Dinan knew that if anyone had the know-how and the heart to help this little girl, St. Andre’s did. She persisted, and Foltz, who has plenty of experience tackling impossible situations, finally decided this mystery might be fun to solve. He was having a hard time forgetting that photo. “When people call and say there’s a child in need, I take that as a call to action,” Foltz said. “The fact that this girl was halfway around the world was a confounding factor. But, as Robert Frost said, Way leads to way.”

Foltz agreed to call the Associated Press office in New York and ask the editor if he could get a message to Judith Ingram, the correspondent who had written the story. Foltz got a call from Russia. It was Ingram who had contacted the photographer and found out what Foltz wanted to know. The photographer remembered that the little girl, named Sophia, had been arrested for begging for food in the subways of Moscow.

The photographer discovered that Sophia’s mother had brought her to Moscow from the country, hoping to eke out a living on the streets. Before that, Sophia had been in a special orphanage for deaf children in Novozbykov, near Chernobyl. Her mother, an alcoholic, had left her there when she could no longer take care of her. After her arrest, Sophia was sent back to the orphanage.

Dr. Foltz decided the best course of action would be to help the orphanage. The Gormans thought that was a great idea and offered to sponsor Foltz’s trip to Russia.

Foltz had three goals for the trip: to find the orphanage and decide what its needs were and whether it was worthy of the Gormans’ charity; to devise a ‘graft-free’ system for getting charitable aid to the school without having it snatched up by corrupt government officials; and last, but not least, to meet Sophia.

Knowing little about Russia, he called Colonel Dennis Deeny, who had once been part of the U.S. Army’s verification team traveling to small Russian towns. Deeny not only knew his way around Russia but was also operating an import business there. Deeny was so moved by Sophia’s story that he offered his services as a personal guide on the trip to Novozbykov.

“Suddenly, I have excellent translators, people in Russia to consult with, and drivers with cars—all willing to help because they wanted to help the children.” Foltz said. “Deeny's presence on my journey was nothing short of a miracle of compassion to little Sophia.”

Upon arriving in Novosbykov and meeting with Sophia, Foltz showed her the picture from the newspaper that had led to his journey. Then he gave her a stuffed bear. She clung to it as tightly as she had clutched her mop-haired doll.

While Sophia touched his heart, Foltz also was moved by a little boy at the orphanage named Misha, who had run into the director’s office while Foltz was there. He introduced himself as ‘Mee-haw’ and gave Foltz a high-five. When he saw Foltz later, Misha jumped into his arms and clung to his neck with what Foltz describes as “a grip of desperation.”

“He looked longingly into my eyes, so hungry for simple affection, my heart was broken.” Foltz wrote in the diary he kept on the journey. “That evening, I awakened in tears, thinking of little Misha and Sophia and their neediness.”

By the time Foltz left Novozbykov, he’d determined that the school could best be helped through a cash account from which the director could draw to buy food, clothing, and bedding. Foltz also hopes to find a way, through Deeny’s trading company, to ship medicine, vitamins, and computers to the children.

“We found that if a non-profit company uses an agent like Dennis Deeny’s company, there are no taxes,” Foltz explains. “But if a non-profit tried to give to a non-profit organization in Russia, the state would take 50 percent off the top. We’re lucky to have Natasha’s warehouses, trucks, and staff to help.”

Since he got home, Foltz and the Gormans have raised $31,000. They’d like to get the total to $100,000 so that a trust could be formed and the interest used annually to help support the school. Foltz can be contacted at StAndre@aol.com or 207-282-3351.

In the meantime, Gorman and Dinan are delighted that their desire to help one little girl may end up helping a school full of Sophias. They are amazed at how easy Foltz made the whole odyssey seem, and they wouldn’t be surprised someday to hear that he’d gone back to Ukraine to adopt little Misha.

Foltz said his goal right now is to get aid to the school. He’s also not sure what the obstacles would be to make Misha free for adoption, yet it’s a notion he knows better than to dismiss.

“I almost wanted to bring him home with me,” Foltz said. “I think if God in His abundant wisdom and grace made such a move clear to me, then I would go get the lad.”

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