Three young adults were selected to participate in the program in Vladimir.
Vera M served as an activity coordinator’s assistant. She took her position very seriously, was well organized and her peers respected her a great deal. Vera’s activities incorporated laughter, volunteerism, education and challenged the young people at the Vladimir Ministry Center to be active in their communites and be good examples to their peers.
Nearly every month Vera organized a celebration like the Women’s Day Party in March or the 50th Anniversary of the ‘First Space Flight’ in April. She used each celebration as a learning tool.
Other activites promoted volunteerism. She, along with some of the young women from the Ministry Center raised funds to buy a special talking doll that the nurses from the Baby Home asked for. When the girls had raised enough money they bought the doll and donated it to the Baby’s Home. A number of the girls were able to deliver the doll and enjoy some time with the children at the Baby’s Home.
In addition she assisted in the Young Families Program. Vera was responsible for entertaining the children while their mother’s enjoyed seminars at the Ministry Center and also planned many of the family outings
Yana P assisted the older orphans program manager by conducting educational seminars at several of the technical schools. Each month Yana researched, prepared and conducted sessions within the framework of “Healthy Living” program. 9-15 students were present at each session on subjects like Methods of Contraception, the importance of friendship between men and women, STDs, “How to Overcome Bad Habits” – smoking, drinking alcohol, taking drugs.
Yana also planned numerous outings and activites for the technical school students. They enjoyed skiing, skating and other sports competitions. At the Ministry Center she aided the Activities Program Manager with similar activities and outreaches in the communities. For instance in January, along with the Vladimir City Youth Department Yana organized a visit of a local WWII veteran. She and some other MC graduates cleaned his house and listened to his war stories.
Oleg Ilyin began working in January 2011 because the former intern Pavel Savkov was drafted to the army. He acted as the volunteer project coordinator. Oleg’s first project was organizing a visit to the local nursing home for the elderly and disabled. During this visit the orphanage graduates read newspapers and books to the elderly people, and interacted with them, because they really need attention. They returned to the same home in March and met with the younger people from the home and had a tea party for them. They were given a very warm welcome and saw a small program performed by the home’s residents. They were really touched. They realized that there are people in their own community who need their attention and care.
The 5th annual “Festival of Good Deeds” took place in April 11-30, 2011. The purpose was helping local socially disadvantaged groups. Nadezhda Fund staff provided the necessary help and support but overall these events were fully initiated and organized by our young people. In Vladimir the young people visited a Baby Home. The team cleaned the children’s playgrounds, and later they took part in the community Work Day by cleaning the streets in the Nadezhda Fund neighborhood.
Since we’ve had lots of snow this winter Oleg is in charge of organizing regular snow shoveling around our building.
Vera B. : “My friends from the Ministry Center and I visited the elderly people in the nursing home. I went there for the first time and I had no idea before what it was like. When I started talking to one of the elderly ladies I could hardly hold my tears back. She told me about her life and how her children sent her to this nursing home and stopped visiting her. It was so sad and so hard. She has no one to talk to. We had a long conversation and after that I read her some newspapers. We will try to go there again.
“It’s my second time participating in the Week of Good Deeds with the other graduates. We’ve been helping clean Baby Home’s playgrounds after the winter. I was of course tired after this work, but I was happy to see that now the children will have clean playgrounds where they can play. It is so important for them and it wasn’t that hard for us to do”. Valya M.