Spread Sunshine Updates

by Danielle Kuznetsov

Dear Members,

I hope you had a good rest over the holidays because 2020 is off to the races and Spread Sunshine is already moving fast and furious - in a good way, of course! I want to recap what YOU have contributed to in fall and give you a heads up on the upcoming months. Consider this as your invitation to put the icing on the AWO Charity cake this year as we celebrate generosity in action.

If you remember, AWO is raising funds for charities in 2-3 month time increments. We began in September with MPC Pensioner’s Program. YOU helped us raise enough money to supply MPC senior citizens with groceries twice per month until the end of May 2020. We also visited the pensioners, brought cookies, and served coffee and tea several times. During our last visit we gave them wonderful holiday bags filled with goodies to ring in the new year. A special thanks go to Black Star for the bags and Colgate for making this possible.

Again, thanks to your contributions in collecting warms socks for the homeless, SamuSocial received almost 500 pairs of socks from us in December. We delivered another 50 pairs of socks and the remaining Colgate donations to the Samu office on the 26th of January. AWO will continue to collect socks for the homeless throughout the spring so please bring them in. SamuSocial has also received a donation of 30,000 rubles to allocate towards monthly birthday gifts for homeless women that French women organise each month. We also gave our first month’s donations of148,347 rubles to purchase medical supplies needed to care for those living on the streets through Samu’s Mediko-Social Help program. These medicines will be distributed this weekto those in need living on the streets. We have 220,000 rubles allocated for medicine/supplies, so we will keep you posted on a monthly basis with pictures and news for your review.

On January 29, at our coffee meeting, Anna Vinogradova, Vice President of Otkazniki Fund (otkazniki.ru) came not only to receive AWO’s 90,000 rubles donation toward their programs, but also to share their organisation’s mission for orphan children. Our first donation will provide help in three key areas for Otkazniki: 45,000 rubles will be allocated to providing hospital nannies so that disabled orphans can receive proper medical care. In this system, a parent or caregiver must be available to care for an infant/child needing medical attention at a hospital. Sick orphans usually lose out as they have no one to care for them. Second, 30,000 rubles is going to provide uncovered medical care for two disabled orphans. Finally, 15,000 rubles will cover the utilities for the Women’s Shelter. AWO will support Otkazniki over the next two months.

Otkazniki Fund (Volunteers to Help Orphans) grew out of a social movement in 2004 for children left behind in hospital wards. These children were either disabled or an unwanted member of a dysfunctional family and were abandoned by the mothers after birth. What makes this fund unique is the fact that it looks at all areas of the situation of a child who is abandoned and tries to solve the problem at all levels.

They have four main areas of focus: * As part of the Prevention of Social Orphanage program, they provide support to families in situations of potential threat of removal or abandonment of a child. They advocate that it is possible to keep a child in the family with preventive measures, and that many children would not end up in orphanages if their parents were provided with a timely assistance.

Finally, Spread Sunshine is a TEAM effort. Given our very full lives, there is no one person carrying the load alone. To that end, we need you! If each of us steps up and brings a small offering, we can TOGETHER make a long lasting impact. If you are interested in participating, please contact me at kuznetsov.danielle@gmail.com or 985-613-6195. In March, we will feature the Spread Sunshine Team to connect you with the women behind the scenes!

14 February 2020 * The Helping Children in Institutions programis aimed to improve the living conditions of children who have lost their families and are in hospitals or boarding schools. They communicate with children from orphanages, help them to study and choose a profession, provide assistance in treating children, and pay for nannies in hospitals.

* The purpose of the Family Device program is to help orphans find a family and parents to adopt a child. They assist in the dissemination of information about orphans and children left without parental care, provide legal, psychological, and informational assistance to families who are just preparing to raise an orphan and to adopted foster parents.

* The On the Side of the Child program aims to change the situation of social orphanhood, legislation, public opinion and the entire system of assistance to families and children in difficult situations. They organize the work of lawyers on legislative changes, train employees of organizations for orphans and the sphere of protection of childhood rights, and monitor institutions.