Igor’s camp story begins with grief. He’d lost his girlfriend, so he was suddenly a single dad.
Like many orphans, Igor hadn’t learned any coping skills from his family. He was a toddler when his parents went to jail, and he grew up in orphanages.
Loneliness was his dominant experience until his 20s, when he met Tanya. They fell in love and had a baby girl, Sophia. Igor was so happy to be loved, to give love, and to have a daughter.
Then tragedy struck: Tanya died of an overdose, leaving him alone again.
It’s hard to say how this story might have ended. Igor is a loving dad, but he was weighed down by grief. And so many children of orphans become orphans themselves.
Yet Igor wasn’t really alone.
When he was at his lowest, Andriy and Oksana Pankyeyev grieved alongside him and encouraged him. Then Oksana invited him to camp.
At camp, he spent time with Sophia away from their daily worries. He learned about being a good parent. And as our staff lived out their faith in words and actions, Igor was watching.
Igor & Sophia at family camp in 2022;
Oksana and Marguerite co-teaching the parents at family camp in 2025
Family Camp was an important step forward for Igor.
He writes, “I was really depressed, grieving. But little by little I was coming back to life. With the fellowship with Oksana and Andriy, with listening to Andriy’s preaching, my way of thinking started to change… I said to myself, ‘Why can’t I be like them?'”
After the second Family Camp, Igor began praying in a village chapel. Something was happening in his heart, and he paid attention to that quiet calling.
For Igor, camp was the most important week of the year. And the cost of that lifetime impact is so little! Just $130 per camp day for Stop the Cycle families this year, and $40/day for students.
You can help us call orphan-led families into an abundant life with God. Will you make a gift toward camps today?
Last year I visited Igor and Sofia in their village. Igor’s eager hospitality and thankful heart filled their humble house with a special warmth.
Right before my visit to Igor’s home, I’d spent the week at Last Bell’s Family Camp. Our staff attends this camp with their own spouses and kids – a living lesson of biblical parenting. I watched them too! And I saw imperfect people relying on God to shepherd their kiddos in humble grace.
At Family Camp, we teach skills that build stability in orphan-led families:
- Disciplining without anger or violence
- Playing with kids at their developmental level
- Communicating in love, even when they’re stressed and tired
- Daily dependence on God
This year, we’ve invited ten orphan-led families to Family Camp. Some are really struggling and desperately need this quality time to learn and practice healthy parenting.
At Family Camp in 2025, it was striking to see how well Igor cared for his little girl!
I love Igor’s testimony about Family Camps, which he wrote specially to share with all of you. Here’s just a small part:
“Memories of camp are something special, like a window that shows a completely different side of life. A good and better life when you’re with God.”
And it’s so easy to see that influence in Igor’s life.
He’s patient and kind. He’s a giver, providing housing for his sister-in-law and her kids. He’s a trusted uncle. He testifies to God’s goodness and invests in his church. He cares about his neighbors.
And he loves his daughter so much! He dreams about a good future for her and works hard to give her what she needs.
Igor has broken the cycle of orphanhood in his family.
Andriy and Oksana with Igor and Sophia in March 2026
Your generosity today can turn a whole family toward Jesus.
After the fourth year of Family Camp in 2025, Igor was baptized in his village church. I visited him with Andriy and Oksana not long after, and saw his true joy as a child of God.
Then he began to serve at his church. He revitalized the worship music, and chops wood for heating. Plus, he’s volunteering at church camp this year! “I want to be the same as Last Bell’s leaders,” Igor says. “Carry light where it’s needed.”
Sophia’s growing up with an amazing role model: a dad who loves her and who serves others.
So many orphan-led families like Igor’s come to camp on the edge of crisis. Unhealthy relationships. Parenting distress. Exhaustion. Uncertainty. Without help, their families will continue to break down, and their children will suffer.
But camp gives them a different vision.
Igor is so thankful for all of you who give toward camp.
“Last Bell is living proof that the Church can be a family for those who’ve lost it,” he writes. “Your support creates an environment where wounded children encounter the love of Christ in concrete actions.”
I add my gratitude to Igor’s. Thank you, friends!
Marguerite Havard
Executive Director
PS: Any extra funds will go to Stop the Cycle, Last Bell’s program that supports Igor and Sophia and other orphan-led families all year.
August: Youth Camp
September: Family Camp
Annually in Winter: Ski Camp for brand-new students
Autumn: Two-day English Camp
Total cost: $32,000