Children and family projects

Hello, my name is Maria Barmina.

My desire to develop myself and interact more with people led me to volunteering, and the first step was participating in the "Bring a Smile" project, where I was invited by a friend. That's when I got acquainted with the Republican Volunteer Center and realized that it was the place where I could express myself and learn something new. The first experience turned out to be successful, so I decided to continue my volunteer activities.

In six months of volunteering, I have had the opportunity to participate in various projects. Within the "Call Center" project, we called elderly clients, communicated with them, and found out what assistance they needed. I also worked with children in a kindergarten and continued active participation in the "Bring a Smile" project. Each project requires deep immersion and encourages the discovery of new talents.

In addition to participating in projects, I attended a seminar for volunteers at the Volunteer School Hub, where we were taught how to launch and implement new projects. I am grateful to the center for giving me the opportunity to discover new facets of my personality by participating in various volunteer initiatives. For me, RVC has become a home where I am awaited by close friends and like-minded people. Together, we are capable of a lot, capable of changing people's lives for the better, and we do it every day! Now I can proudly say "I am a volunteer" and invite everyone to become part of our friendly team!

Hello! My name is Yaroslava, I am 16 years old and I study in the 10th form of the Theoretical Lyceum «Alexander Pushkin».

I enjoy playing the piano, playing sports and writing articles, as I dream of becoming a journalist. A year ago I became interested in volunteering, the war that started in a neighboring country played a big role in this. From February to July 2022, my mother and I actively helped refugees. We prepared a large amount of food and delivered it to those in need. Then I became interested in whether we have volunteer organizations in Moldova and remembered the RVC, which my friend told me about.

First, I got into the «School of Volunteers», where I learned from the coordinators what the Republican Volunteer Center is. I liked it right away. I realized that here I can develop myself, learn and gain new skills, communicate and help people, which is what I always wanted. I have been at the RVC for a year now, during which time I managed to try myself in various projects. Most of all I like «Call Center», as well as projects related to children. One of the projects that I lead is «Talking English», where I teach children English in an interactive way.

During my activity there were many interesting cases, but most of all I remember the case from the «Clean Chisinau» project. Then we were cleaning the «Eight» park and collected about 15 bags of garbage. We had a real quest to get garbage out of the lake. We understood that it would not be possible to clean everything. Then a man who had nothing to do with volunteering came to help us. He literally climbed into the lake and helped us pull out a large number of bottles and other debris. After the action, we were glad that we managed to clean up the park a little and make it more pleasant. Being engaged in volunteer activities, I feel useful, I feel that people need my help and I believe that volunteering is my calling!

Hi all! My name is Linda Shcherbatova, I am 35 years old. I am a studied catering technologist-designer. At the age of 15, I joined the Jewish Cultural Center «KEDEM» and began to expand my educational horizons.

Volunteering has always held a special place in my heart, thanks to my parents and grandparents who raised me the right way.

At the moment I am participating in the project «The Origins of Mercy», which brings me joy, especially considering that my grandmother Greta is far away from me, because due to circumstances she had to move to another country. Often I meet older people who resemble my loved ones Greta and Izya. Their manners, habits or appearance give the impression that my relatives are next to me.

What does it mean to be a volunteer?

This is a moment of sincerity when you lend a helping hand in any situation. It is a manifestation of gratitude when you accept the arms of a person who has lived for many years. In their eyes you see only positive emotions accumulated over the years of life, and upon returning home you feel the aroma of the velvet skin of their hands. Being a volunteer makes me proud! This is a charge of positive emotions in our difficult time!

Hello everyone, my name is Sergey Melnichenko, I am 19 years old and I am studying at the University of Economics. Before I found out about the RVC, I visited the Haverim youth platform, where on one of the Sabbaths I was offered to join the volunteer center. After some time, I decided to join the ranks of volunteers. I have always believed that I can help the world, although not on a global scale, but still somehow make it better little by little.

I joined the RVC team about six months ago and managed to participate in a variety of activities. At the moment, I mainly work in the ITKIDS project, where I teach computer literacy and IT skills to children, but in the future I am ready to try myself in other areas. Also, sometimes I participate in the delivery of food packages for the elderly and in environmental campaigns.

What I like about volunteering is that everything is done from the heart. I do what I love and as a results I bring joy to others as well as myself. It is like a reward to see smiles on their faces. Nothing compares to the true happiness of a person. I believe that kindness can save this world. I hope that I will be able to do what I truly love for a long time.

Volunteering teaches a lot. For example, once at the ITKIDS project, I was supposed to be replaced for a day, but the volunteers could not come. In such a situation, I had to quickly react and find a way to fix the situation and fortunately everything went smoothly. This experience taught me to always have a back up plan.

Hello! My name is Arina Tiginyan, I am 16 years old and I am in the 11th grade. I learned about the RVC at the end of a long journey in 2019, but I was afraid that he would not go because of the pandemic, and in the end he came only in 2022. During these almost 4 months, I managed to participate in many RVC projects aimed at improving our city and at socializing people’s diseases. I managed to take part in the projects “Clean Chisinau”, “Give me a paw”, “Chisinau residents of the 20th century”. In addition, I conducted English classes for children in the Jewish kindergarten, I was a volunteer at the European Cup among juniors in Chisinau 2022 in August. In September, I was lucky to be a member of the VC Festival for 4 cities of our Republic. Now I am helping to coordinate the School Ready project, which allows preschool children to learn the most important knowledge in mathematics and spelling. And this is far from all my activity, which I do in the Volunteer Center. The RVC is a volunteer center, where you sometimes get tired of voluntary activities, but at the same time it is a place of inspiration and learning new things. The concentration of happy people per square meter is simply over the top. Perhaps the outcome was natural in my life. I met common people, a couple of whom became my very close friends and my support. The Republican Volunteer Center is not a place and not just a couple of offices in KEDEM, it is a family and a second home.

Hi all! My name is Mititelu Valentina, I am 16 years old and I am a first-year student at a teacher training college.

I learned about the Republican Volunteer Center from my friend and started volunteering almost two years ago. My first project was called «Limba Noastră» where I taught Romanian to children. Participation in this project helped me become more punctual and responsible, as I realized that I have obligations that I should fulfill.

In the volunteer movement, I especially like communication with different people, regardless of their age and interests. I love to learn something new and develop, as well as help people and see their smiles after helping. During my participation in the projects, I met a lot of wonderful people and there were many pleasant stories. One of them happened during the delivery of new phones. To old people. We helped them figure it out by explaining how each program worked. It was very interesting to listen to their stories that happened to them throughout their lives, and it’s very nice to see smiles and joy on their faces. I understood that our communication was necessary for the elderly, and it brought pleasure to both of us.

I am proud of my decision to become a volunteer at the Republican Volunteer Center, and I do not regret my choice at all. Activities at the RVC brought me new knowledge, a large number of interesting acquaintances and vast experience of working with people.