Program Areas

We thank you and all RCWS benefactors so much for the trip we were able to make to Moscow through your efforts and kindness to us! We are so lucky that there are people in this world who live in order to create such wonderful holidays for children.

— Tatiana M. Zaveleskaya, Teacher, Idritsky Orphanage, Pskov region

New Year Party for Orphans in Moscow

2011 Cristmas Appeal

Dear Friends,

During this special time of the year we ask you to remember the children in Russia who rely on our help. With your support, the Russian Children’s Welfare Society (RCWS) provides scholarships for orphans, sponsors medical treatment for children with facial deformities, and assists orphanages and families that take care of abandoned children. We rely on your compassion and ask you to be especially generous this year.

Twelve years ago, RCWS organized our first "Yelka", a Russian Christmas and New Year’s Party in Moscow. Each year, between 1,000 to over 2,000 children participate in RCWS’s Yelka festivities. This year’s event will be held at the "Olimpijski" Sport Complex on December 26th. RCWS reserved 1,000 tickets for children who will have an opportunity to see this year’s holiday water show, "The Mermaid and the Secret of the Magic Star." This event is created by a good friend of RCWS — Maria Kiseleva, three time Olympic medalist in synchronized swimming. In the past, Maria has attended the RCWS Yelka festivities in Moscow, greeting the children and distributing Christmas presents. Maria and her husband, Vladimir Kirsanov, have generously donated sweet gifts for children with a contribution of $13,500 toward the event. For most of these children it is the only present they will receive throughout the year and it will be treasured. Some children will travel great distances to attend, coming from orphanages in Belskoe-Ustje, Yaroslavl, Velikij Novgorod, Novomoskovsk, and the Kaluga and Moscow regions. A trip to the Yelka celebration and the opportunity to see the capital is something that every participant will cherish. We are expecting children from the following organizations: Pushkin School, Rostok Rehabilitation Center, Solba Orphanage for Girls, Preodolenie Rehabilitation Center, Friends of Russian Orphans, Nelishnie Deti Center, Spivakov Foundation, Victoria Rehabilitation Center, Kitezh Center, to name a few.

In addition to the Yelka event, RCWS personnel and volunteers together with "Ded Moroz" (Russian Santa Claus) will visit pediatric hospitals in Moscow to distribute gifts and bring cheer to over 150 sick children who are unable to travel. Among the hospitals included are the children’s clinics at the Sechenov Medical Academy, the Central Research Stomatological Institute and Morozov Hospital.

This December, over 1,200 children will participate in the holiday celebrations sponsored by RCWS. Due to an increase in ticket prices and transportation expenses, it will require over $35 per child to underwrite these costs. Your support is vital in organizing our 12th Yelka celebration. Please help us to continue this tradition of bringing holiday cheer to sick and orphaned children in Russia.

We thank all of you who have supported us for your generosity and wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and a joyous New Year!

Sincerely,

Vladimir P. Fekula
President & CEO

Please click here to download this appeal in English and in Russian.

Yelka Celebration '10

New Year Party 2010 This past holiday season, the RCWS celebrated Christmas and New Year’s with orphaned and sick children in need of some warmth and cheer. RCWS staff and volunteers, together with "Ded Moroz" (Russian Santa Claus) visited 100 abandoned kids with disabilities in Kolomna, bringing them toys and candy. Every year, the children anxiously await the arrival of our Ded Moroz and the jolly costume clad RCWS volunteers. The kids are always eager to sing and dance around a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in a nurturing and festive environment.

In 2010, Ded Moroz and the RCWS volunteers also delivered gifts to 80 little patients at the Moscow Center of Maxillofacial Surgery and an additional 50 patients at the Sechenov Medical Academy. The RCWS team culminated the Christmas Events Program with a visit to the girls’ shelter at the Nikolo-Solbinsky Monastery in the Yaroslav region of Russia, where 21 of the orphaned girls living in the convent staged a musical. The convent implements an innovative educational program that stresses the development of creative skills so as to inspire the youngsters and allow them to foresee a bright future. In all, 360 children celebrated the holidays with the RCWS. We hope to help a growing number of youths smile every year.

Yelka Celebration '09

Nickolo-Solbinsky Convent
2009 was one of the most financially trying years for non-profit organizations including RCWS. 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. Due to the lack of funding, the Society had to cut back on a number of the Yelka festivities. With the help of our local partners, however, we were able to bring a little warmth and holiday cheer to youngsters in orphanages, hospitals, baby homes, and shelters. Altogether, close to 900 children participated in RCWS Yelka activities this winter.

Yelka Celebration '08

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. 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. 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.

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.