A stay-at-home mom, Sammmamish resident Jen Riley is a busy, doting parent to her two daughters, Rachael and Kate.

But with her natural curiosity for foreign culture and a generous heart, she is hoping to bring a 14-year-old girl named Yanina back into their home from the steppe of Belarus.

The Eastern European teen, known by her nickname “Yana,” is one of several dozen children local non-profit organization Children of the World hope to bring to the Puget Sound this summer as part of a “health respite” visit. For the past 13 years, the organization has been bringing children ages 8 to 16 to the U.S., who are believed to be in danger from a variety of ailments related to radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

“Since we can’t go off to somewhere like Africa for a month (to help with charity work), we felt it was an easy way to help,” Riley said.

Riley and her husband, Ryan, love to travel and in years past they had hosted foreign exchange students from Italy and Germany. But in 2008, they made the decision to work with Children of the World and took in Yana. They raised $1,400 of their own money to help pay for travel, a visa, and interpreter costs. Once Yanina arrived, the experience was eye-opening for everyone, said Riley, and gave her children a window into a new world.

“She’d never been on an elevator before,” she said. “Ice cream, brownies, quesadillas … Things that are so everyday to us, to her it was always new.”

Since then, they’ve kept in touch by mail (Yana’s family doesn’t have access to a computer) and occasionally send over care packages filled with home necessities, such as bandages, tylenol or disposable razors. They’ve invited her back this year.

Children of the World President Mike Hlavaty-LaPosa said recent research showed the health respite trips benefit the health of children in Chernobyl fallout-affected areas.

“If a child can get out of that environment for a period of about six weeks, their system can flush the radiation out of their system,” he said. “They absolutely blossom. It’s amazing to watch.”

The charity views the children’s primary medical problem as a weakening of their immune system caused by a combination of malnutrition and radiation exposure.

A number of local doctors and dentists have also volunteered their time and care for the children, who often come from economically deprived areas and are unable to receive regular health care. Most Children of the World families get free check-ups from doctors looking for thyroid disease caused by the low-level radiation back home.

On Yana’s last visit to Sammamish, Occhio Optometry gave her a pair of eyeglasses, and local dentist Dr. Rhonda Newton gave her a free dental cleaning.

The Garcia family of Issaquah have hosted several children through the Children of the World program.

“It’s a wonderful organization, Children of the World. There’s a lot of joy,” Barbara Garcia said. “They bring a refreshing unity.”

The Garcia’s hosted 10-year-old Alina Tsiareshchanka, from Belarus, in 2008.

“She is a delightful loving child who showed our family great affection,” Garcia said. “She loved the trees and healthy food. You get to realize how wonderful the area is that we live in. Our environment here helps flush out the radiation and gives us a chance to help those who are malnourished.”

A diplomatic dispute, however, is keeping Children of the World’s Hlavaty-LaPosa up late at nights trying to figure out how to keep the health respite program going. Belarus blocked children from traveling to the U.S. for such programs after a Belarusian teen refused to return home. Until the dispute is resolved, Hlavaty-LaPosa has shifted focus to children from Ukraine, another Chernobyl fallout-affected county.

He’s trying to place 25 children in homes around the Puget Sound, but has only confirmed homes for three Ukranians so far.

All hosting applications, invitations and a deposit are due by Feb. 15, and he’s racing against time to find places for all of them.

“We’re trying to establish new program in Ukraine, he said. “We’ve got quite a ways to go there.”

For more information about how you can help or to volunteer as a host family, visit Children of the World’s Web site.