Brainstorm projects for children and families

Brainstorm is a meeting of generating new ideas and solving existing problems. The team of volunteers at the meeting was able to brainstorm the needs among families at risk, as well as children left without parents. Volunteers managed to sketch 5 projects that can be launched in the future and will help families and children develop in new directions and keep abreast of useful information. We plan to provide support and educational assistance to boarding schools in the city of Chisinau, as well as to the Savivon Kindergarten. Thanks to our volunteers, we will overcome all difficulties and achieve great success.

Training with a psychologist for children’s volunteers

Monthly training sessions with a psychologist are held at the RVC, which allows volunteers to gain useful knowledge that can help them to carry out volunteer activities or for their own lives. The topic of the last meeting was life during the pandemic, as well as the difficulties that arise due to the frequent transition from offline to online and vice versa. Our psychologist Lina Tetyusheva shared with the participants special exercises that can help you not get depressed and always stay alert and strong. Also at the meeting, the participants shared their difficulties and helped each other to solve them. It is the friendly atmosphere that helps to always be afloat, so volunteers really appreciate the time spent together.

Calls with congratulations from February 23 and a festive delivery.

The RVC is a great opportunity for every volunteer to find what they like and do good deeds. In honor of the holiday on February 23, our volunteers congratulated the HESED men on the Defender of the Fatherland Day by phone and wished them health, long life and inspiration. Also, in honor of the holiday, 15 elderly defenders were given small tasty and useful gifts with themed postcards by volunteers, which cheered everyone up.

Informing the elderly from Ukraine

In this difficult time for everyone, our volunteers showed how much they are ready to help and give emotion to people who need it so much. Starting from February 25, the phones in the Call Center do not cease to be silent. Every day, dozens of volunteers respond to requests for help, come and call HESED clients, grandparents left alone during all the horror. In a short period of time, we managed to get through to more than 1,500 elderly people, many of whom say words of gratitude that they are remembered and try to help. After all, it is support, even words, that can create a great miracle.

Training with a psychologist of volunteers of the project «Origins of Mercy»

On February 2, within the framework of the Origins of Mercy project, I had a psychological training with Lyudmila Semina-Gitsu offline. This evening, our volunteers got acquainted with a special «grounding» technique that brings us back to the «here and now» state, which significantly reduces anxiety and stress. Lyudmila plunged the volunteers into a meditative state, which relaxed and slightly rebooted the participants of the training.

At the end of our meeting, the volunteers admitted that sometimes they just need such a reboot and they will share new knowledge with their wards, as well as relatives and friends.

Delivery of mobile phones

Volunteers of the RVC continue to introduce older people to the world of high technologies. We deliver and train the elderly to use smartphones and connect to online activities and volunteer center programs. Also, lonely elderly people will have the opportunity to communicate with their relatives and friends via video calls, and volunteers will always be in touch and come to the rescue.

See you online!

«Remembering the Past»

“The best way to get to know history is to meet it face to face.”

The Republican Volunteer Center annually holds “Remembering the Past” meetings. The name of the project speaks for itself — people share life stories, memories and thus pass on invaluable information to the modern generation. Each conversation is aimed at getting acquainted with the history, the fate of eyewitnesses of those terrible years. This is how we honor the memory of all those who suffered and died during the Holocaust.

Despite the difficult epidemiological situation in the country, the emergency meeting “Remembering the Past” was successfully held in 2022.

On February 6, the project was broadcast live. It consisted of several blocks and united all generations: a conversation with a participant in those terrible events with Iosif Davidovich Belous, a former prisoner of the Rybnitsa ghetto, and now the chairman of the Association of former prisoners of ghettos and concentration camps in Moldova, an interview with the Gubenko family (Lyudmila and her daughter Amelia, 11 years old) who shared the life story of their grandmother and great-grandmother in the Rybnitsa ghetto. At the end, all viewers of the live broadcast were offered a joint viewing of a documentary film based on the memories of the elderly who survived the Second World War

It was important for us to hear, to see a Person who survived these events and looked at Life in a different way, as well as

It is not to show that the younger generation is interested in and keeps the memory of grandparents who survived the Holocaust. We would like to note that the story of Faina and Zinaida Gubenko was presented on the air by the girl Amelia, who is only 11 years old, but it was important for her to tell a wide audience about it. It is important for us to live in order to remember!

More than 60 HESED volunteers and clients from Chisinau, Balti, Rybnitsa joined the live broadcast on the official RVC Facebook page and the ZOOM platform. Together we supported the main characters of the meeting, who spoke about life during the Holocaust on the territory of Moldova, referring to their own memories and stories of their relatives. We all once again thought about how, despite the incredible trials of fate, to preserve the Human in ourselves, and at the same time peace on Earth no matter what!

Educational seminar for volunteers of the project «Origins of Mercy» Chisinau, Balti, Rybnitsa.

On February 26-27, an educational seminar was held for volunteers of the «Sources of Mercy» project in Chisinau, Balti, Rybnitsa, who are taking their first steps in volunteering. The purpose of the seminar was to reveal the capabilities of each participant, find their place in the project, get acquainted with already experienced volunteers and get answers to the most pressing questions about working with the elderly. A total of 30 people took part in the seminar. We believe that all the information received will give its results and new volunteers after some time will also share their experience and transfer knowledge.

Delivery of mobile phones to HESED elderly

In early February, volunteers delivered telephones to Hesed wards in Balti and surrounding villages. Hesed clients are successfully mastering new technology and are happy to join online programs, and volunteers are always ready to help them and together deal with the difficulties that have arisen when using gadgets.

Congratulations to volunteers on February 23

Most recently, the most active volunteers in Balti received a gift in honor of February 23! Ursul Sergey and Groysman Yefim devote a lot of time to Hesed’s wards and never refuse them any help they can. Help, support is what is so needed in our world.