Weekly magazine “Arguments and Facts” No. 41. Why is bread in Russia’s most important product? 13/10/2021
Moscow summed up the interim results of the charity program to help pregnant women “Save a life”. Temporary shelter, strollers, cribs, diapers, food, training in new professions for 6 years, volunteers have saved 16 thousand children.
Decide for yourself
Such is life that, after learning about pregnancy, many women hear from the father of the child: “Decide for yourself.” This is often followed by a refusal of support from relatives. Left alone with fears, women are forced to take a referral for an abortion. At these moments, volunteers of projects such as “Save a Life” lend a helping hand.
«Said: „Decide for yourself, it’s too early for me to become a father.“. And a few days later he changed his phone number, “says Natalia, a ward of the program.
The girl is 27 years old, lives with her one-year-old son in a small provincial town. The population there is steadily declining. Young people leave for large cities, give birth less and less every year.
According to the government’s forecast, the population of Russia by the end of 2021 will decrease by 535.5 thousand people, by the end of 2022 by another 533.4 thousand
“At first I wanted to keep the child, I even managed to come up with a name. And then they began to intimidate from all sides: you will not be able to feed and clothe, you will grow up without a father, you will begin to take out grievances on the child. She hesitated, took a referral for an abortion,” Natalia recalls.
By the will of fate, the girl managed to get to a crisis psychologist. He helped to understand the situation, told about possible support options. And Natalia, realizing that she was not alone, decided to keep the pregnancy.
Volunteers helped to get a crib, a stroller, baby clothes and hygiene products, even came for discharge. Now they continue to help the young mother. And with those who persistently advised to get rid of the baby, she, as she confessed to us, stopped communicating.
In order for girls like Natasha to be able to ask for help at any time, the “Save a Life” program has launched a free crisis line:
8-800-100-48-77.
It works around the clock, 7 days a week.
4 out of 16,000 saved by the program “Save the life” of kids. Photo: ANO «Save a life»
Geography of care
Psychologists and social workers of the program work in women’s clinics in 106 cities of Russia. 182 specialists are involved. The main task is to provide timely support to a pregnant woman who was forced by circumstances to think about an abortion.
In each case, the help is individual. Someone needs psychological support, someone needs legal support, and it also happens that elementary things are needed: products and things. Some women are given the opportunity to live in a shelter for free, retrain and find a job.
The program builds this work through 59 regional foundations that specialize in supporting women with children.
“The emphasis in our work is on helping women in the regions, especially in villages and villages. You can’t do without local partners here. The participation of regional funds makes it possible to be close to those who need support,” says Ekaterina Markova, the head of the Save a Life program.
The program provides constant support to its regional partner funds: it pays for the work of psychologists, annually sends tons of humanitarian aid, conducts regular training.
“Today, by joint efforts, we have managed to save 16 thousand children, providing their mothers with timely support. If we present the figure more clearly, we will get 1067 kindergarten groups or 640 first grades of school,” Markova sums up.
Geolocation map of the centers for pregnant women on the website of the program “Save a life” . Photo: ANO «Save a life»
Help in time
“How sorry I am that I found out about you late. I had an abortion two days ago. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to do it alone, — such messages are painfully perceived by the program staff.
They try to actively advertise the crisis line so that women can seek help in time and there are fewer similar messages.
“Thousands of stands in women’s consultations, banners on the streets and in transport, millions of brochures, the phone number of our crisis line can be found in every region of the country. And yet this is not enough, — tells coordinator of the direction of education and social advertising Evgeny Chesnokov.
This year, according to him, the organization plans to significantly expand the information campaign.
“We are currently negotiating for the number of the crisis line to be placed on the popular test for pregnant women,” Evgeny shared his plans.
Do not throw after childbirth
«Cucumbers to the table», «Goat to the family », «Znayka», «Literate », «Easter in every house », «Become a wizard » — this is only part of the program projects aimed at supporting families with children.
“After the birth of the baby, everything is just beginning, because you can’t leave a woman. We continue to help with things, products, household chemicals. We buy livestock for the wards in the villages, we put greenhouses. We collect children to school, pay for classes with teachers,” the program manager shares.
Every year sweet New Year gifts for kids are delivered to several thousand families.
According to Ekaterina, special attention is paid to targeted assistance: “Sometimes a family urgently needs to replace the boiler or pay for gas connection, repair the roof, which is about to collapse. Many children are sick, funds are needed for medicines and treatment. We try to help».
Sometimes the benefactors of the program perform real miracles. At the end of 2020, for example, they helped a single mother from Novozybkov, Bryansk region, to buy a two-room apartment. And this is not the only such case.
As of today, 115 thousand wards have already received assistance, about 50% are children. For comparison, the population of Pushkino near Moscow is 107 thousand people.
Assistance to the family in the Samara region. Photo: ANO «Save a life»
A small warehouse of a large project
Igor and Tatiana the third time they go to the car for packages with children’s things. Every month they park a car full of clothes next to a shopping center in Medvedkovo. There, on the second floor, is the humanitarian center of the “Save a Life” program.
Every day Muscovites bring here strollers, cribs, clothes for children and mothers, hygiene products, household chemicals, food, appliances. Large companies send trucks with products.
“Nothing is delayed for a long time, we promptly send the help of Muscovites to the regions. In winter, warm clothes are especially expected there, the prices of which bite. We have calculated that, on average, clothing assistance saves a family 50 thousand rubles annually. In the regions, this is 2-3 monthly earnings. And if there is no work at all?»— tells the warehouse coordinator Elena.
Meanwhile, Igor and Tatiana returned from the car for the last time with packages in their hands.
“We live in the neighborhood. We learned from neighbors that they accept things for the hinterland here. We know firsthand that life there is not easy. We decided to help. First, we brought the grandchildren’s belongings, now we are attracting friends and colleagues. Every month it turns out to collect a lot of children’s clothes, ” Igor shares on the run.
In their busy schedule of good deeds, the next item is to help their son with grandchildren, you need to have time to get there.
The warehouse has six small rooms that used to be occupied by commercial stores.
“Our work is difficult. They can bring 2 tons of cheese at once, which needs to be lifted to the second floor, sorted and sent to the regions the very next day,” the smiling Alexander shares. He has been working here for the fourth month.
Trucks with regional license plates and branded gazelles of transport companies park near the shopping center almost every week. On such days, sellers who are bored without customers observe the same picture: Alexander, together with the movers of the shopping center, begins to carry on carts and lower heavy boxes onto the street. Unfortunately, there is no elevator.
The nearest funds (for example, from the Ivanovo and Kaluga regions) take the help themselves. To remote regions, assistance from the warehouse is sent by transport companies, the costs are borne by the sender.
Candle for Muscovites
Six years ago Tatiana Pokhilenko She created a charity organization in Kaluga to help local families. For several years, the collected aid had to be stored and given out in a small uncomfortable room on the 4th floor of an office space. Over time, the city authorities noted the social significance of the organization by providing a room on the 1st floor of a residential building.
Today it is a large and well-known organization far beyond the region. The wards are greeted by a sign with the name of the center: “Life”. The name is appropriate, life is boiling here. The organization has 500 wards of families. More than half have many children.
“At first, help for the wards was collected through social networks. Gradually, they started knocking on different doors, talking about our work. Over time, we assembled a team,” recalls Tatiana.
According to her, in such a case, the main thing is to sincerely burn with the desire to help people, then there will be strength not to give up at a difficult moment.
Inside the center is very cozy: warming colors, cleanliness, good repair. A warm atmosphere was also created for the wards, for whom it helps to feel a little more comfortable.
The Life Center is one of the 59 organizations that are included in the Save a Life program. Recently, they again received humanitarian aid from her: stationery and backpacks for schoolchildren from families under her care.
Tatiana admits that it will not be easy to maintain the achieved level of work without the support of Muscovites.
“The program helps not only families in the outback, but also centers like ours,” she explains. — I am a believer when I visit the temple —I put a candle for the health of our patrons in Moscow. We’ll have a hard time without them.”
Not only by deed, but also by word
“No one has talked to us about the family and the choice of a husband before. The most interesting of what I heard, I think „10 facts about the development of a child before birth “. It turns out that there is not a “clot of cells”, but a small person. Now I will definitely never have an abortion. At the next meeting, I really want to talk more about how to choose the right husband,” these are the words of a 9th grader Anastasia.
Such reviews are written by listeners of conversations about starting a family, which are conducted by the program “Save a Life”. The organization is confident that along with social work, it is necessary to conduct educational work. Therefore, in dozens of cities of the country, the lecturers of the program conduct conversations with schoolchildren and students.
Marina 16 years old, she is two months pregnant. The girl’s parents insist on an abortion, the child’s father ran away. The girl herself wants to give birth, she found the number of the crisis line “Save a life” on the Internet.
“Is it worth voicing the obvious reasons for this situation? That’s why we have conversations with young people: we talk about the basics of normal relationships, chastity, family values, secrets of a strong family. Be sure to touch on the topic of the beginning of human life and the stages of development of the child in the womb. The more information the guys have, the more responsibility they have,” says Evgeny Chesnokov.
Special attention is paid to male responsibility in working with the younger generation. They even released a digest “PRO courage”, which is given to the guys after lectures.
Meeting with soldiers undergoing military service. Photo: ANO «Save a life»
Reviving Russia
Helping such a large number of people requires significant efforts from the organizers of the program, daily painstaking work.
Charity only from the outside can seem like a business that is exceptionally pleasing. In reality, everything is different. It is extremely difficult to live with the problems of thousands of people. In this environment, almost everyone is familiar with the term “burnout”. I am not familiar in theory, I am familiar from my own experience.
And no one canceled the personal problems of the volunteers. Just like others, their children get sick, misfortunes happen, there is not enough money, fatigue accumulates.
And yet they do not give up, they find motivation to go forward.
The program booklet says: “Saving lives, we are reviving Russia.”
It is good that there are people in Russia who continue to believe in their Fatherland, and most importantly, they are doing everything possible to revive it.
Assistance to families in the city of Balashov, Saratov region. Photo: ANO «Save a life»
Help
You can support the work of the program “Save a life” on the website: spasizhizn.rf
Help reception point in Moscow: Malygina str., 7, 2nd floor, rooms 18 and 27, tel: +7-495-142-49-01