Eye operation for Paulina fedorovna Yegorkina
I am always happy to deliver help for children. This is a special situation however. I like Paulina as a person and admire her drive, her professionalism, and her plain old kindness. While she was the orphanage director delivering donations was a pleasure. Funds where immediately put to work, reporting was instant and clear, before and after photos provided to me to pass to the donors etc. I am truly sorry that Paulina retired from her post as the head of the shelter. After her retirement she became the Staritsa representative of the Tver-based Vozdvizheniye ("Exaltation of the Cross") Fund and took on a project to distribute aid (usually clothing donated collected in Tver and Moscow, where people are much wealthier and fussier) among Staritsa's single mothers.
Paulina is nearing 60 and her eyesight is failing. I am not aware of the exact nature of the problem but an eye operation, properly done, should stop her vision from deteriorating. She needs her eyes, and so do people whom she helps, and I she has flawless reputation for using funds given to her properly, which makes me want take this unusually active position. .
So, when I receive funds intended for charity but their specific use is left up to me, I'll add it to Paulina's eye operation fund. If you want to make a charitable input into Staritsa but are sure what exactly you want to support, consider helping pay for Paulina's eye operation.
It is scheduled I believe for December 2004. My cash flow permitting - and usually it does permit such things except November is dead season in the tourist business - I'll give her the rest of the required amount and bum it back from you people later.
Paulina's current affiliation:
Vozdvizheniye
("Exaltation of the Cross")
FundThe fund collects clothing in Tver and Moscow, and distributed it among single mothers in Staritsa. While $70/month income allows one to eat, there is no way to be decently clothed with this sort of money. On the other hand Moscow and as of recent even Tver generate a lot of unwanted clothing. So in effect they generate value out of nothing. Paulina not only provides material aid but monitors how women under her care live, what their problems are, and how the quality of their lives can be improved.
Information on the the Vozdvizheniye Fund and its Staritsa project will be posted HERE
Contributors so far:
Katie Fischer and Paul Ratner
(movie makers based in Australia and Hollywood, USA who travelled to Staritsa to collect materials on their documentary on Russian women).Summer 2004
$300 contribution towards the eye operation for Paulina, the retired director who pulled the orphanage through the difficult early and mid-90s, and now continues good works by collecting clothing from the city people who don't need them, and distributing them among single mothers in Staritsa.
The total cost of the job is $800.
Finances permitting I will cover the rest and than bum whatever I spend from you people.
September 2004
$100 contribution to the same project, thus making it $400 so far.
Eric & Marilyn Houston (USA/Hong-Kong)
Summer 2004, $100
The Maximov Family (St. Petersburg, Russia)
December 2004, $100