Voice of the Children history

It was horribly smelly and dirty, and he didn't want to go down into it. Yet he was filled with compassion for the
children who lived inside the hole. As he hesitated, he realized that this was exactly what Jesus did for
mankind. He left the splendor of heaven, humbled Himself and sought us out with His love. Alex remembers thinking, "Who am I to argue with God?" So he crawled down.

That cold morning in 1993 was the beginning of Alex's journey into the world of St. Petersburg's street children. Thousands of abandoned children from 5 to 18 years old live in the basements, sewer systems and attics of the city.
Lonely, cold, sick and hungry, many try to escape by sniffing shoe polish, using alcohol or even heroin. They turn to crime. Many sell
their bodies for survival.

Street children first broke Alex's heart in the Russian Far East. In between flights, Alex walked through town.
Several bedraggled children approached him, asking for food. He bought some bread and sat
down on the steps to eat with them. He learned that they lived in the train station, and that most of them did not have parents (or at least, not any that card about them.) He told them about their heavenly Father, who does care for them even when their physical father does not. Just then, the police, who had been listening in, approached Alex. The children ran across the square. As the police questioned Alex, the youngsters yelled "Leave him alone! He is a Holy Man!"

"Holy man?", Alex thought. " If I became a holy man after a few minutes of attention and a loaf of bread, then there
is a serious problem here!" This encounter broke his heart. He returned to Alaska, he resigned his pilot position,
packed his suitcase and headed to St. Petersburg to dedicate himself to reaching street children.

By God's grace, Alex began a soup kitchen, orphanage and an outreach to street children. For many years he supported his work by returning, periodically, to Alaska to fly commericially.

Marta Gorelik, MD is a Pediatrician dedicated to service to the poor and immigrants. Along with working at a Primary Care county clinic in California, she had volunteered in Central America and Africa. On a two-month volunteer trip to Far East Russia in 1997, Marta and Alex met. They were married in 1998 and founded Voice of the Children the same year.

While based in California, they continued involvement with Russia, supporting Life Orphanage financially and through frequent travels to St. Petersburg. Additionally they worked in Ensenada, Mexico where they began outreach programs to children and helped establish a medical clinic in underserved village of Oaxacan Indians

Alex and Marta felt a need to start further projects in Russia, so they moved to St. Petersburg from 2000-2005. They constructed and established a second orphanage in a rural setting, held many camps, did street outreach, and built fellowship and cooperation between a variety of street ministries in St. Petersburg.

The Goreliks currently reside in California and travel frequently to Russia. VOTC has started new projects with migrant families in San Benito county. They continue to pursue life-changing aid for children at risk.