2009 has been the most financially difficult year for non-profit organizations including RCWS. Due to the lack of funding, the Society must limit our Yelka activities this season. However, with the support of our local partners, we managed to organize the following celebrations for disadvantaged children whom we assist during this holiday season:
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December 19
Nutcracker on Ice Show, Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow — Irina Kudrina and her Northern Crown Foundation donated 350 tickets to our more than 12 partner organizations. Every child received a sweet gift. It was a fabulous show! Chaikovsky’s music, bright colors and professional skate dancers created an unforgettable Christmas holiday. This show was dedicated to Chaikovsky’s 150th anniversary.
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December 20
 Holy Family Children Center, East Moscow The preparation for a Christmas party started in November. Our new friends a group of the volunteers got acquainted with Sister Teresa and her children. They all come from the families of the refugees and disadvantaged families. Veronica Kartashova the initiator of the event visited the center and carefully identified the kids’ Christmas dreams. Accordingly every of the 30 children received a very special gift valuable indeed. The kids performed a Christmas show based on the Holy Bible. They made the costumes themselves. Practically all of the kids have learning disabilities but you would never see it — they were wonderful actors.
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December 21
Baby Home and Shelter in Kolomna — For the fifth time we organized a joint event for the orphans together with the volunteers from the EBRD (European Bank of Reconstruction and Development) . This time two officers from the USA Embassy went to Kolomna with us.
 The volunteers from the bank as usual prepared the gifts to children well in advance and in accordance with the kids wishes. Larissa Volcavichute the leader of the group is a very creative person. The Society purchased the services of Ded Moroz and the sweet gifts while the transportation was provided by the Department of Youth and Family Policy, Moscow City Government. Our friends from the American Embassy bought much fruit and cakes to the kids in the baby home.
We spent the whole day in Kolomna. The little children in the baby home were expecting Ded Moroz impatiently. When we arrived we saw their noses pressed to the windows glass. The Yelka was decorated nicely. Every child receiving a gift from Ded Moroz either sang a song, or danced or recited. It was very touching because despite their disabilities they tried to do their best and succeeded. The baby home received many pampers and other sanitary accessories. In the shelter we met with older children who were equally happy to celebrate the best holiday of the year.
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 December 22
St. Vladimir Children Hospital, Moscow — It has become a good tradition to visit the patients of the Facal Deformities Department and professor Roginsky. For the suffering children the appearance of Ded Moroz in the wards was a holiday in itself to say nothing about the gifts. This time we met many children with very severe deformities.
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 December 23
Sechenov Medical Academy — RCWS visited 40 children with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis being treated at the Sechenov Medical Academy. Professor Podchernyaeva met us in the rheumatic diseases department. She and her staff could not resist attending a party around Yelka. Very sick children of different ages prepared an amazing Christmas show full of singing, humor and laughter. Our Ded Moroz immediately joined a scenario and the show had become even more lively. |
December 30
Theater Sovremennik and Their New Year Show in Teatr Estrady — Our long-term partner VIP Concert Company donated us 34 tickets with gifts. We invited Pushkin School. They were able to cover only half of their travel costs from Novomoskovsk while Alexei Milhailuk our Russian Board member purchased the second half. Lena Bachinskaya accompanied the children to the show. They really enjoyed both the performance and the gifts
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January 9
Shelter in Nickolo-Solbinsky Convent — When we arrived in the convent we could not believe our eyes: it was a Russian fairy tale in reality. Shining snow, blue skies, magnificent church buildings created a unique ensemble of the 15th century. It was though full of life. We saw hundreds of children who had arrived by buses, cars and even horses from the nearby villages and the orphanages of Alexandrov and Yaroslavl. We met the Friends of Russian Orphans which was a good surprise. All the guests we invited to have a snack at the large tables laid with delicious products from the convent’s farm. The nuns even made ice-cream.
The 21 orphaned girls living in the convent prepared a Christmas musical. Their vocal and performance were so professional. It took our breath away! After a show our Ded Moroz demonstrated amazing talents when he managed to involve practically all the three hundred children in the celebration. According to Erotiida, Mother Superior such a holiday was a tradition. The convent is a cultural center for hundreds of kids and their parents living in a desolate rural part of Yaroslavl Oblast. The shelter for girls is developing very well. All the children have very sad backgrounds but their present life is offering them all possible opportunities for education, developing their creative skills, vocational training. The shelter would be able to host more girls in crises if not the lack of room. A new building has been constructed but it is not ready yet. A lot of the interior work has to be implemented but there are no resources for it.
 Additionally, our volunteers the charitable project launched by a group of young Moscovites visited all our families included in the Granny’s Program. All but one were happy to receive a gift for a New Year. They even visited the settlement of Shaturtorf 120 km eastward from Moscow. All the gifts were very good and special.
Altogether, close to 900 children participated in RCWS Yelka activities this winter. We thank you in advance for your generosity!
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Our 2008 New Year and Christmas celebration was held at Moscow's Big Circus on December 25th. About 1,200 children attended the spectacular holiday show and received a special gift. For most of these children it is the only present they receive throughout the year and it is enormously treasured. Most children traveled great distances to attend, coming from orphanages in Pskov, Yaroslavl, Velikij Novgorod and the outskirts of Moscow. A trip to the Yelka celebration and the opportunity to see the capital is something that every participant will cherish.
In addition to the Yelka event, RCWS personnel and volunteers together with a professional actor dressed as Ded Moroz (Russian Santa Claus) visited five pediatric hospitals in Moscow to distribute gifts and bring warmth and cheer to nearly 800 sick children.
Yelka Celebration '07
The Society's well-known annual Yelka Party took place on December 25, 2007 at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow. The event's 1,300 participants included orphans and disabled children from 68 various children's organizations in Russia. The young guests enjoyed a performance of the Nutcracker and received beautifully wrapped chocolates as a New Year's gift.
Given the venue's proximity to the Kremlin, many of the youngsters also had a chance to explore the festively decorated Red Square and marvel at the skating rink and Christmas tree. Visiting the capital, seeing the sites, and photographing their memories was a dream come true and made quite an impression on the children, many of whom traveled from locales as diverse and far as Beslan, Ryazan, Veliky Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Tutaev, the Pskov region, Kaluga, Tver, and Novomoskovsk.
The Yelka party was indeed the highlight, and the youngsters simply couldn't hold back their emotions, laughing and joking and hugging Ded Moroz, Snegurochka, and other costumed fairy tale characters. Maria Kiseleva, three time Olympic champion in synchronized swimming, was also on hand to greet the children on behalf of RCWS, thanks to the coordinating efforts of Anna Sibiryakova and Russia's current Minister of Sports and former hockey great, Vyacheslav Fetisov.
Nastia Rutovskaya, a ninth grader at the Opochka Specialized Orphanage in the Pskov region, sent RCWS the following letter of thanks:
“Thank you so much for providing me with the wonderful trip to Moscow. I really liked Red Square. I had never been on a train before and I'm glad I was given this opportunity. I enjoyed eating at the restaurant “Mu-Mu”. It was just as delicious as home cooking. I was delighted while watching the Nutcracker. I will study better now that you gave me such an interesting trip. I want to thank you once again and wish you a Happy New Year!”
There were many children who, through sickness or other unfortunate circumstances, could not attend the Yelka, yet the Society managed to bring a little Holiday cheer to them, as well. RCWS hired a professional actor to play Ded Moroz and distribute gifts to 110 patients at the St. Vladimir Children's Hospital and 200 others at the Institute of Emergency Surgery and Trauma. We also surprised 38 children at an orphanage in Tugolessky Bor with individualized gifts based on their letters to Ded Moroz. The Society again visited a juvenile prison on the outskirts of Moscow, bringing books and sweets to young inmates, many of whom are twelve or younger. Perhaps the most grateful recipients of our Christmas program were the 130 street children and orphans at the Morozovskaya Children's Clinic, who received no other holiday visitors. They enjoyed playing games and learning new tricks from Ded Moroz. RCWS appreciates the in-kind donation of sweets and presents for sick children, which was made possible by a donation from the Zodiak Co.
The smiles, laughter and happiness of the children is a gift that cannot be measured. For many sick and lonely children, the Society's holiday program has proven to be a gift that keeps on giving.
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