"It was the children," says Andrea Carroll (Skrypka) of Windsor, Calif. "I just could not forget the children."

Carroll, now Skrypka, is talking about the eight girls and boys with diabetes she met in a Ukrainian hospital in 1990.
I am a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator, but I had never seen anything like it. They were in ketoacidosis, the last stage of diabetes. Their eyes were sunken and they were emaciated you could see their bones beneath their skin, smell the telltale fruity scent on their breath.
Those children were very sick, every single one of them, and there I was, an American who had the same disease for over 20 years, but I was in perfect health. They couldn't believe it. They were blown away.
So was Skrypka. "I sat right down with an interpreter and told them about things they'd never known, blood glucose testing, good nutrition, and daily multiple insulin injections. Then I left some syringes and insulin, and gave one young girl, Natasha, my meter and test strips and told her,' When you run out of these, let me know.'"
But Skrypka did more: She launched a program that now spans continents, fills cross-country trucks and international flights with diabetes supplies, and dispenses millions of dollars worth of educational and medical goods in Ukraine.

Skrypka calls her program the Ukrainian Diabetes Project (UDP). In the beginning, the UDP operated under the umbrella of other non-profit organizations. In 1997, it became an official humanitarian aid program under the auspices of the Diabetic Youth Foundation. The DYF operates a summer camp for children with diabetes (Bearskin Meadow Camp) located in the Sequoia National Forest high in the Sierra Mountains. The late Mary B. Olney, MD of UCSF Medical Center founded it in 1938.

With its continuous growth, the UDP was incorporated in 2005 to serve as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization.

Accomplishments

• 100% volunteer non-profit organization providing diabetes supplies and services to children with diabetes in Ukraine for over 30 years
  
  
• Provided 8312 diabetic children and their families with diabetes supplies.
  
  
• Provided over 2.8 million dollars of diabetic supplies to the Ukrainian children.
  
  
• Translated and printed the Ukrainian version of Dr. Luther Travis' manual, "Instructional Aid on Diabetes Mellitus."
  
  

Services

• 1990 - Provided 8 children with diabetic supplies and training.
  
  
• 1991 - Provided 20 children with diabetic supplies and training.
  
  
• 1992 - Project officially named and established its first diabetes clinic in Cherkasy, Ukraine providing 30 children with one year's worth of insulin, syringes, blood testing strips and 10 hours of diabetes education.
  
  
• 1993 - Provided 60 children in Cherkasy, Ukraine with one year's worth of insulin, syringes, blood testing strips, and 10 hours of diabetes education.
  
  
• 1994 - Provided 300 children in Cherkasy and Poltava, Ukraine with one year's worth of insulin, syringes, blood testing strips, and 10 hours of diabetes education.
  
  
• 1995 - Provided 450 children in Cherkasy, Poltava, and Vinnitsa, Ukraine with one year's worth of insulin, syringes, blood testing strips, and 10 hours of diabetes education.
  
  
• 1996 - Provided 450 children in Cherkasy, Kharkiv, and Ternopil, Ukraine with one year's worth of insulin, syringes, blood testing strips, and 10 hours of diabetes education.
  
  
• 1997 - Provided 74 children in Sudok (Crimea) and Cherkassy with one year's worth of insulin, syringes, blood testing strips and 10 hours of diabetes education.
  
  
• 1998 - Provided 50 children in Kiyiv with one year's worth of insulin, syringes, blood testing strips and 10 hours of diabetes education. In addition, $25,000 worth of diabetic supplies were shipped to Kiyiv and distributed to 316 diabetic children by the Diabetes Charity Fund of Kiyiv.
  
  
• 1999 - Provided 64 children in Kiyiv with insulin and blood testing strips and 10 hours of diabetes education. Provided HbA1c test on 75 children.
  
  
• 2000 - Provided 120 children in Kiyiv with blood testing strips and 10 hours of diabetes education. Sponsored 4 village children and their parents at Camp Orlenok. Provided HbA1c test on 72 children.
  
  
• 2001 - Provided 120 children in Kiyiv with insulin syringes, blood testing strips and 10 hours of diabetes education. Provided A1c test on 80 children.
  
  
• 2002 - Provided 150 children in Kiyiv with blood testing strips and 10 hours of diabetes education. Provided A1c tset on 100 children. Printed and distributed 500 copies of Instructional Aid on Diabetes Mellitus.
  
  
• 2003 - Provided 100 children in Kiriv with blood testing strips and 10 hours of diabetes education.
  
  
• 2004 - Provided 100 children in Kiyiv each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips. Translated and printed 10,000 logbooks in Ukrainian .Distributed 50 copies of Instructional Aid on Diabetes Mellitus in Dontesk, Ukraine.
  
  
• 2005 - Provided 100 children in Kiyiv each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2006 - Provided 100 children in Kiyiv and 50 children in Donetsk with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2007 - Provided 300 children in Kiyiv each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2008 - Provided 400 children in Kiyiv each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2009 - Provided 200 children in Kiyiv and 100 children in Kherson each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2010 - Provided 200 children in Kiyiv and 100 children in Kherson each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2011 - Provided 200 children in Kiyiv and 100 children in Kherson each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2012 - Provided 200 children in Kiyiv and 100 children in Kherson each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2013 - Provided 200 children in Kiyiv and 100 children in Kherson each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2014 - Provided 250 children in Kiyiv and 150 children in Kherson each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2015 - Provided 250 children in Kiyiv and 150 children in Kherson each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2016 - Provided 300 children in Kiyiv and 150 children in Kherson each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2017 - Provided 300 children in Kiyiv and 150 children in Kherson each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2018 - Provided 300 children in Kiyiv and 150 children in Kherson each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2019 - Provided 300 children in Kiyiv and 150 children in Kherson each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2020 - Provided 300 children in Kiyiv and 150 children in Kherson each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.
  
  
• 2021 - Provided 300 children in Kiyiv and 150 children in Kherson each with blood testing meters and one year's supply of strips.