The year 2007 was a very special year for our foundation. We began our summer program with the opportunity to meet the famous and talented tennis player, Maria Sharapova, at the Acura Classic Tennis Tournament in La Costa. We ended the year with a generous donation from the Maria Sharapova Foundation, which will fund 10 new needy children to visit San Diego for health respite vacations in 2008.

The “Meet and Greet” event was organized by Maria's agent, Max Eisenbud, Vice President of IMG Tennis, and Gina Clement, Senior Manager of Communications and Publications, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Max, Gina, and their team members were extremely gracious and helpful in assisting our group's attendance at the “Meet and Greet,” as well as Maria's first match two days later. Our foundation appreciates everything that they did to allow this wonderful event to take place.

At the time of our 1st meeting, Maria was ranked No. 2 in the world, and was surprised to find out that all of the visiting children not only knew of her, but also admired her. The visiting children had the privilege of spending time with Maria in the form of a personal “Meet and Greet“ which was arranged by Maria's staff. With the beautiful La Costa Resort as a backdrop, the children gathered around Maria, who spoke to them in Russian, their native language. With Maria's friendly smile and easy-going demeanor, she fielded questions from the young visitors. Maria remarked, "They had all these questions lined up for me. The kids are pretty young and the questions they were asking me were so mature and so beyond their years," she said. "This young kid asked me how I wanted to raise my children. I was like, 'Geez, you're a kid yourself. It was very strange."

As the children chattered about how much fun they were having at pool parties and the beach, Maria reflected on the simple things of life. "I still love things that you don't even need to pay for," she said. "Going to the beach and being around five of your friends and having a good time means so much more than going out and spending hundreds of dollars. It did make me realize that, 'Wow, all these small things are making them happy.'"

Maria emphasized how important it is to believe in yourself, have goals, and follow your dreams. She showed her compassion for the children who were not as fortunate as she was, stating "It's tough because most of them don't have any parents, and what's really helped me in my life was having my mom and dad be so supportive and around me," she said. As a special parting gift, Maria took the time to personally autograph a T-shirt and visor for each participating child. The T-shirts and visors were generously donated by Nike.

During the “Meet and Greet,” Maria invited the group of children and host parents to her first match, which took place on August 1, 2007. With the help of Gina Clement, in charge of public relations, our group was given complimentary tickets. To the children's astonishment, Maria and her team arranged for the group of children to be introduced to the crowd of fans prior to the match, and one of the children was honored with the task of tossing the coin that determines which player starts the match. This can be seen in the photograph below. Our foundation greatly appreciated the exposure of our small charity, as the emcee spent several minutes introducing the children and explaining how our foundation brings hope to the children of the Chernobyl region. We were thrilled to see Maria win her first match, and go on to win the tournament.

Maria's family is originally from the city of Gomel, Belarus, which is about hour away from Mozyr, the town where the visiting kids come from. The southern region of Belarus was particularly hit hard after the nuclear explosion, when the prevailing winds shifted, causing 70% of the nuclear fallout to land on the country of Belarus.

Maria's mother, Yelena, was pregnant with her only child when the plant in Ukraine exploded and spewed radioactive clouds over the western Soviet Union.

"A lot of families were moving, but not a lot of them could because they didn't really know where to go," Sharapova told The Associated Press. "My mom's dad happened to be working in Siberia, so that's why we had a sense of direction." Sharapova's father, Yuri, and her mother fled Gomel, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Chernobyl, shortly before she was born in Nyagan, Siberia.

She's never forgotten her roots.

Maria has been busy establishing a scholarship program in Gomel that will allow underprivileged teens to attend the University in Minsk, as well as funding an addition to a local Gomel hospital. She was named a United Nations Ambassador in 2007, after she donated 100,000.00 dollars to eight UN development projects in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. "It's in the beginning stages of what exactly I'm going to be doing," she said. "But I want to visit the facilities that they're building right now for the children's computer labs and hospitals."

Maria plans to visit Gomel as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, in July, after Wimbledon. This will be her first visit to Gomel. Gomel was one of the areas most affected by radiation. Sharapova said she still has family there, including grandparents. Our foundation, with the help of our Belarusian liaisons, plans to send a group of children to Gomel to help celebrate Maria's arrival to the Gomel region. After the thrill of meeting their sponsor in person, the children will face even more excitement as they prepare to leave for the USA the following week.

Maria exemplified our foundation's motto “make a difference in the life of a child” by stating at the end of her interview, "If you're able to help some people and make them smile and make them realize that life is good," she said, "then that's worth so much more than buying a pair of shoes."