«Spear-hand of World» – The society helping pensioners and disabled

Anna Vasilieva

      The society «Spear-hand of World» was organized in 1993 on the base of the charity foundation «Soprichastnost’» (could be roughly translated as «empathy»). Its work is to help elderly and disabled citizens. Oleg Pavlovsky, the President of the society, knew of the elderly people’s problems not just by mere report – he came across many of the difficulties of this age himself after his retirement. Oleg Sergeevich decided to prove by his own example that advanced age is not in the way of active social life, and at the same time recover other elderly people’s belief in the possibility of reputable life. Nowadays «Spear-hand of World» is realizing several programs that include the service of legal advice, «tourism and arts» club for the disabled, publication of thematic literature, entertainment for the elderly etc. But the very first and perhaps foundational program is providing social aid to the poor and elderly. It is managed by Maria Vasilievna Zalesskaya. One of the projects within this program is a community kitchen that has been working for six years already. It is working on the base of a canteen belonging to Tverskoy municipality of the Central Moscow district. It is mostly visited by old women living nearby. Before the opening of the facility Oleg Sergeevich gathered detailed information of the elderly people in need of help from the nearby houses, got acquainted with them and chose 30 people whose situation proved to be the most distressful. Thanks to «Spear-hand of World» 30 babushki have been getting their hot dinners daily for over five years. (The cost price of such dinner is about 20 rubles). In 1998 the community kitchen was financed by the Moscow Government. When this money ran out, further expenses were covered by a British company «Bear Trust». Now these funds are running low as well. Oleg Sergeevich and Maria Vasilievna are looking for new sponsors – the kitchen must not stop working even for a single day!
      When Maria Vasilievna is speaking of her charges, her eyes are filled with tears. She knows each woman coming to them personally. People of this age tend to withdraw into the small space of their flats, stay inside for weeks, they have no motive to brush themselves up, clean up the rooms or wash the laundry. The community kitchen helps the old ladies to keep fit. They come to their daily dinner as to some special ceremony: they must give a good account of themselves with the neighbors looking. There is a small park nearby. The babushki take their after-dinner walk there, take a rest on the benches, share the latest news. Thus the community kitchen has become a sort of club and meeting point for them.
      Oleg Sergeevich told me that he was suggested feeding all old people of the district in turns, as it is usually done by the state social services. «We don’t want to follow this principle, - says the «Spear-hand of World» President. – For us it is essential that certain people would feel our care all the time». The society workers know the stories of all their charges: who suffers from which disease, what is the allowance size, they know if this or that old woman has warm clothes for the coming winter. Such close attention prevents the elderly people from feeling one too many in our society.
      Besides organizing free dinners Maria Vasilievna is collecting clothes and household staff needed by her charges. Donations are coming from state and commercial companies, as well as private persons. «Savelovsky» and «Dinamo» markets and «Lukoil» petrol company have become regular sponsors. And «Bolshevik» confectionery supplied more than six tons of biscuits this year. After several years of work Maria Vasilievna has managed to create an efficient network of collecting and handing out things. Moscow charity organizations know for sure who they can contact for help. «Spear-hand of World» is regularly visited by the staff from the society of the blind in Perovo district, «Ivan-da-Marya» society of the disabled, «Orekhovo-Zuyevo» society and many other organizations.
      Maria Vasilievna’s greatest concern is well-being of her charges. She is doing her best to make their everyday life as comfortable as possible. Once a week her babushki can have their hair cut for free. One of her recent ideas is to open a small shoemakers’ and a tailor’s workshop where the old ladies can have their clothes and shoes mended for free. Unfortunately, this idea is so far impossible to realize due to money shortage, and what’s more important – due to the lack of room. But to the mind of Oleg Sergeevich, all these problems are temporary. «It’s not that bad, - he reassures Maria Vasilievna, - Give us some time! We’ll get the things going!»
      -Oleg Sergeevich is radiating energy and optimism in spite of his age. He believes that communication with friends, open air and a good song are the best medicines for the elderly. That is why «Spear-hand of World» staff pay so much time to entertainment of their charges: they organize large concerts in the All-Russian Exhibition Center, street performances in the kids’ park, arrange for free tickets to Moscow theaters.
      In general, there are lots of interesting ideas in «Spear-hand of World». One of them is to organize a kind of «food bank» where restaurants, stores and warehouses could bring excesses of perishable goods. After sorting and processing these products could be taken away by charity organizations and handed out to their charges. It is common practice in the USA, and we could do this kind of thing as well. Of course «Spear-hand of World» lacks the necessary resources to make this idea come true. To realize it one needs united efforts of the state and commercial structures as well as charity organizations. But Oleg Pavlovsky is confident that this idea is realizable.