English

THE CLUB OF VOLUNTEERS: «TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE CHILDREN’S WORLD BRIGHTER»

The Club of Volunteers is a community of like-minded people united by a desire to support children in orphanages and social care institutions, who have come to be in a difficult life situation. We, as Club of Volunteers members, have not been trying to change the state system. For several years, we have been playing our civic role by performing our moral duty. The state, as an institution, will never be able to provide warmth and care to those in need, as this can only be done by human beings. At the same time we are aware that we are not able to resolve all the problems faced by children in difficult situations. On a global scale it can be done only by the state itself through government authorities, functionaries and social workers. But we, as a society, have the potential to change the future of orphaned children by giving them the support that they have lost from their parents. The activities of the Club of Volunteers might help to solve a number of social problems by raising society’s awareness, but first of all they might give an opportunity to children to have a better future.  

The Club of Volunteers achieves its goals and objectives by providing support to children. The Club is running several charitable projects connected to each other, which help to foster relations between children and society, as well as raising the awareness of each person involved. After several years of working with children, we have accumulated a wide experience and have chosen the most appropriate ways of interaction with them. The Club has been able to effectively develop preventive and educational methods aimed at the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, the concept of family, civic responsibility, self-improvement and intellectual development. Children are constantly in touch with reputable representatives of our society, who have been a personal example for them. We can say that we help children to find good friends from outside the walls of social institutions.   The methods we have been using for several years have shown that we are heading in the right direction. The main need of children is communication. For them, spending the whole day with elder acquaintances and friends is a great joy. Communication with these friends is very important for children, it is easier to talk to young people for them. Children ask for advice or help, they can learn something or simply follow their elder friends’ examples. The Club organizes different social events, such as master-classes focused on developing creativity and learning, training in social skills and interactions, etc. All these events help children to develop their personal creativity and individuality and increase their self-confidence. The aim of the training is to acquire new knowledge and skills, promote healthy lifestyle and prevent negative influence.   Our mission is to erase the boundaries between society and children by setting up the Club, where each member can feel personally involved in providing opportunities to the younger generation and become aware of his role in building our common future. FIELDS OF ACTIONS   Children (foster-children) — Communication and interaction (socialization, friendship); — Facilitation of educational process and development of social skills; — Support of intellectual and physical development; — Career counselling assistance; — Healthy lifestyle promotion; — Prevention of possible negative influences; — Promotion of tolerance and respect for different cultures; — Assistance in daily problem-solving; — Facilitation of integration into adult life;   Social institutions — Providing financial assistance and material support to orphanages; — Organizing celebrations, competitions and other events; — Providing modern educational literature, books and school equipment; — Facilitating computerization and assisting in setting up computer classes; — Providing materials for socio-pedagogical work with children;   Society — Raising awareness; — Promoting human values based on a sense of community; — Uniting like-minded people of different age and backgrounds, nationalities and religion; promoting volunteer activities; — Attracting society attention to the problems of orphans; — Setting up the conditions for taking part in the social system; — Prevention of possible negative habits, such as alcoholism, drug addiction, racism, etc.   State — Creating a society of equal opportunities for everyone, especially among young people; — Training social workers; — Creating an image of Russian Federation as a socially-oriented state;

Support of education and social adaptation of children is based on the organization of master-classes and training sessions run by volunteers. Special materials and tools are used for most of the activities taking place. Children are grouped and attend various classes according to their age and abilities. Conducting several lessons at the same time allows the engaging of all children from orphanage. In its educational activities, the Club of Volunteers applies a step-by-step approach, which avoids the repeating of master-classes and allows children to improve their knowledge and skills on a regular basis.  

Objectives:

— Developing creativity — Developing mental abilities — Developing musical abilities — Developing constructive and technical abilities — Developing physical abilities — Teambuilding — Developing applied skills — Organizing entertaining games — Giving educational lectures  

Conducting classes for high school students, we focus on developing their social skills and career guidance. Our work with children from secondary school focuses on cultural education and the development of general skills: creativity, learning and physical abilities, musical talents and technical skills, while our work with small kids based on developing their psycho-motor and mental functions, such as cognition, attention, memory and perception. The knowledge and skills that children receive in the lessons increase their efficiency in different activities in the future.

At present the Club of Volunteers has a unique database of master-classes and a wide experience of conducting them for several years during constant work with children. Most of the children who left orphanages where those activities had been running, have successfully integrated into adult life. Some of those children have grown up, started an independent life and today take part in activities of the Club and visit orphanages as volunteers. The administration of orphanages under our patronage has also noticed essential benefits of our master-classes and trainings for children. Long-term relationships that have been established during several years, demonstrate successful integration of activities of the Club of Volunteers into the education system.  

The start was done, but it’s just a small part of what needs to be taken care of. New volunteers are always welcome to join our friendly team! Come and join us. Together we can achieve more!