PSKOV, January 2. / TASS /. The number of participants in the charity event to collect gifts for boarding school children and children from low-income families in the Pskov region for the first time exceeded the number of children's wishes that were planned to be fulfilled. This was reported to TASS by the deputy chairman of the Pskov regional branch of the Russian Children's Fund, Ekaterina Traneva.
The regional office is holding an action "Become Santa Claus!" since 2013. To help children, it is enough to choose a postcard with a child's wish posted on the fund's page in the social network and give a gift to the fund's volunteers.
“A unique situation has developed - this year there are more kind“wizards”than letters to Santa Claus from children, that is, our benefactors did not have enough children's wishes., those who fulfilled one children's wish a year earlier, this year fulfilled four. Last year, more than 1.1 thousand children received gifts, and this year we managed to fulfill all wishes, there were more than 1.2 thousand of them. ", - said Traneva.
According to her, children from orphanages from most districts of the region, as well as children with special needs and family members who find themselves in a difficult life situation, received gifts for the New Year. The Deputy Chairperson clarified that the fund's partners from Moscow, students of the Pskov State University, business representatives and non-profit organizations took part in the action.
Find Santa Claus in 180 seconds
Traneva noted that on the eve of the holidays, another record was set in the region - for the first time during the campaign, philanthropists declared their desire to fulfill a childhood dream within just a few minutes.
"This year, for the first time in history, we have broken the record for finding Santa Claus - three minutes. We put a postcard with a child's wish on a page on the social network, and within three minutes Santa Claus or Snegurochka was there, who took away the wish to fulfill it. If last year we had postcards that had to be displayed a second time, to remind that the child is still waiting for Santa Claus, then this year all desires were sorted out immediately after the postcard appeared on the page on the social network - this was not never ", - said the representative of the fund.
There were so many people wishing to become "New Year's wizards" for children from boarding schools that now, according to her, the fund's volunteers intend to organize an additional stage of the action after the New Year holidays. “We have already suggested that those who wish to help simply bring a gift, and from our side we will find someone to give it to and whose desire will still be fulfilled in the coming year,” Traneva clarified.
"Christmas Angels"
New Year's gifts for children from boarding schools in the region were prepared not only by residents of Russian cities. According to Traneva, philanthropists from abroad became participants in the fund's action - within the framework of the joint Russian-Austrian project "Christmas Angels", they sent personalized gifts for 1,000 children.
"Hundreds of" wizards "from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, as well as Russia make children's wishes come true and send gifts to their wards from children's social institutions in the Pskov region, that is, such an international, international action" Christmas Angels "is obtained. Every year, the chairman of the Austrian charitable association "Little Hearts" Pascal Weier provides assistance to pupils [boarding schools], as well as children from poor families in the Pskov region, "explained the deputy chairman of the fund.
She recalled that the project has been implemented in the region since 2011. "Over the past years, he has helped more than 5,500 children's New Year and Christmas dreams come true. As a rule, desires are fulfilled to a greater extent than the child asked: either sweets or postcards, some additional toys are always added," said Traneva …
Sports gift
According to the deputy chairman of the foundation, another New Year's surprise is being prepared for boarding school children - the opening of a free rope park, which has no analogues in the region. "The decision to open a rope park on the basis of the Pushkinogorsk boarding school was a New Year's gift. It will appear approximately by March-April. There has never been such a project in the region, it is, in fact, unique: there are a small number of rope parks in the Pskov region, these are all private projects, they require significant funds to visit, which makes them virtually inaccessible for the poor, so having your own rope park on the basis of a state institution will make it possible to change the situation, "the agency's interlocutor said.
Traneva clarified that the cost of the project is estimated at 300 thousand rubles, the fund's volunteers collect funds for its implementation on a crowdfunding platform.
A free visit to the park will be available for pupils of all boarding schools in the region and children from low-income families. According to the fund's calculations, over 1.2 thousand children will be able to visit the facility during the year.