Dear Editor,

I believe Yuliya Popova’s column (Kyiv Post, Feb. 26, “Charity is great, but no need for go-go girls on the program) sheds an unfairly bad light on the Kyiv Lions Club. The KLC agrees that charity has nothing to do with go-go dancers. You will get no argument there.

However, to make the story only about go-go dancers, or $175 dinners, is missing all of the good that the KLC does for charity in Ukraine. For example, in your article you mention that you spent a night as a homeless person with other students, leading to a BBC news story, and that money raised from that news story went on to help the homeless shelter.

The KLC also has such a story, even involving the BBC. Please see the following link which will take you to a BBC story about the KLC and how we went out ourselves and helped one of the hospitals here in Kyiv.

Furthermore, you mention that you would rather see kids on stage versus dancing girls. At last year’s Burns Night, Ukrainian Special Olympians were invited to the stage to thank the KLC, as well as Slava Vakarchuk, the lead singer of Okean Elzy, who performed that evening. The KLC has supported Special Olympics Ukraine in the past. I invite you to take a look at our 2009 year in review which can be found on youtube, showing Slava with the special olympians.

Attending one of our charity events and then painting a broad picture of the KLC is unfair and inaccurate. Thus, I would to invite you to come and see some of the real work that our club does and report about that. The five minutes that the dancers were on stage is not even close to what our organization is about.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Kind regards,

Curtis “B.J.” Bjelajac

Kyiv Lions Club president