October 14 marks the 30th anniversary of the Russian Children's Fund, which became the first experience of voluntary assistance in the Soviet Union. When the foundation was created, it was not fashionable to come to orphanages and transfer money to an unfamiliar sick child. The Children's Fund brought back the forgotten word "charity" in the 1980s. In 1988, after a terrible earthquake in Armenia, he helped find and return 543 babies to their relatives. After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the fund helped 22 thousand children undergo rehabilitation. The Foundation helped 8,750 children and 3,000 families affected by floods in the Far East. Mikhail Gorbachev, Nikolai Ryzhkov, Andrei Gromyko considered it their duty to help the Children's Fund, the latter, by the way, donated his fee for the book of memoirs published abroad. The "RG" correspondent asked the founder of the foundation, writer Albert Likhanov about how the idea of ​​charity was accepted in the USSR and whether it is difficult to do good today.

Charity is in vogue today, but you started your good deed 30 years ago, when the word "charity" sounded strange ...

Albert Likhanov: Then this word was forgotten. The word is historical, but we have restored it in the turnover of our right space. We were the first to write this term in our charter and the Ministry of Justice missed it. Then, in order to create a fund, a lot of things were required. It is now three people who can collect copies of passports, certify the application in a notary office and arrange a fund. It took me several years to form the foundation.

Why do you need a fund? Orphanages seemed to work, sick children were treated ...

Albert Likhanov: I happened to learn thoroughly the topic of orphanhood, although I myself am from a complete family. As the editor-in-chief of the Smena magazine, I traveled around the country and each time I went to a child's home or a boarding school, and talked for hours with the principals for a long time. At first they were tense, then they relaxed and talked about the reality that had developed by the 80s.

Until that time, were the orphanages ideal?

Albert Likhanov: We must pay tribute to the system of orphanages created in the Soviet Union after the Civil War. Dzerzhinsky did it. They scold him, but he created a system that neither Lunacharsky, who undertook this and was the Minister of Education, nor Sverdlov could create. Children spent the night on the street, starving, stealing, parents died, they had to be rescued. It was a humane matter that had to be done by iron methods. Then very correct ideas came together: in order to save an orphan, you only need to raise him in his own eyes, and therefore - to give an education. At least seven years of school. After seven years, they were admitted to a technical school, which after two years gave a specialty, a job assignment and a bed in a hostel. This directive - to give all children an education, turned out that the guys were socially aligned. They wanted light and went to it. I was at the meetings of graduates of orphanages. The hall was full of admirals, generals, professors. Academician Nikolai Dubinin is our outstanding geneticist, one of the street children. There is a photograph where a street child, the future professor Dubinin, is standing next to Lenin. That government pulled hundreds of thousands of children out of nowhere. By the 80s, everything had changed a lot. According to the standards, a child was supposed to have a coat for four years, two pairs of socks, forty people in the bedrooms, and two nannies in children's homes for 20 babies. Everything was pretty bad, but I was a writer and allowed myself to tell about this to different people, the secretaries of the Central Committee of the Komsomol.

Fate is still upbringing, not living space

Have you been listened to?

Albert Likhanov: With sympathy. Well, yes, they nodded, but what next? I visited Mikhail Prokofiev, Minister of Education. He was a wonderful, intelligent academician. He began to tell me how the system of orphanages works, and I told him about a coat for four years, socks, this is not, this is not. At this time, a decree was issued on education by labor in rural areas. Pupils underwent practical training at MTS. To lie in the snow under a tractor, you need a quilted jacket, a hat, boots. This was not the case. I saw it with my own eyes when I was in the Kostroma region, the village of Chernopenia, in an orphanage. There was a Komsomol youth camp nearby. The guys were crazy, they sang songs at night, I collected them and say: whoever wants to, tomorrow morning we are going to help the orphanage. In the morning I went out, my wife, our friends and that's it. And when we reached the middle of the Volga, a ribbon of students followed us from the bank. This village was the start. I had a Komsomol comrade, Viktor Pribytkov, an assistant to Chernenko. And suddenly Chernenko becomes general secretary, my friend calls me: bring a note to Chernenko tomorrow. I wrote a 45-point note overnight. This is how the Children's Fund began.

You shouldn't have any complaints about orphanages today.

Albert Likhanov: Today, orphanages belong to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection (previously they were supervised by the Ministry of Education). I cannot understand this, because the engine for restoring a child in his children's rights is education and upbringing, and not social assistance, by which we mean provision, improvement. But fate is still upbringing, not living space.

I gathered the students in the camp and said: whoever wants to, in the morning we go out to help the orphanage

Is it difficult to do good?

Albert Likhanov: The most difficult thing today is the impoverishment of our people. People themselves need to help, and I would count on them to help those who are even worse. We have been dealing with the problem of childhood tuberculosis for several years. By the end of the Soviet regime, childhood tuberculosis was, as it were, done away with. Now a new form has emerged and, as a result, a high mortality rate in children and adolescents. We are trying to help 140 anti-tuberculosis sanatoriums for children. So far we have collected 13 million, but this is only aid to 28 sanatoriums.

We are always close to the state when it feels bad. When there was the Ufa-Chelyabinsk train disaster, we attracted huge international assistance and created a children's burn center at the Speransky hospital. These are the possibilities of the fund. State participation in government affairs.

The competition was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Russian Children's Fund

The competition was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Russian Children's Fund

In the Library named after Albert Likhanov, within the framework of the regional social and pedagogical Likhanov readings, the winners of the open competition of creative works "In the name of a happy childhood" were awarded and the volunteers of the social project "Thirty years in the service of children" were honored.

The competition dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Russian Children's Fund was intended to draw attention both to the activities of this organization in particular, and to the topic of kindness and mercy in society as a whole. Schoolchildren, students, pupils of boarding schools, teachers took part in the creative competition.

19 works were recognized as the best in four age nominations, three of which were written collectively. Seriously prepared for participation in the competition in the Kirov-Chepetsk sanatorium boarding school, the grammar school of the town of Slobodskoy, the Spitsyn orphanage of the Kotelnichsky district of the Kirov region, the Kirov schools No. 27, No. 59, the Kirov evening school. A large research work was organized by the student of the Lyceum No. 21 Anastasia Kaisina, the student of the Lyceum of Information Technologies No. 28 Anastasia Klochkova and the student of the school No. 70 Ekaterina Zagrebina. An excellent example for everyone was the family participation in the competition of Lyudmila Bagaeva together with her daughter Anastasia and mother Tatyana Krupina.

Wonderful poems, compositions, essays, abstracts, videos and photographs are the result of thoughtful work and a responsible attitude to participation in the competition. Some of the works were devoted to the volunteer activities of the participants of the competition, the main one was reviews of the works of Albert Likhanov, there were also words of gratitude to the staff and teachers of orphanages and boarding schools.

About 50 winners from the city of Kirov and districts of the Kirov region, as well as active participants in the volunteer movement took part in the awarding ceremony within the framework of the “Thirty years in the service of children” project.

Many pleasant words were said to the writer, the permanent head of the Russian Children's Fund Albert Likhanov for his works that inspire mercy and social activity, as well as to Valentina Ivanova, the chairman of the Kirov regional branch of the Children's Fund, for her help in difficult times.

Together with the winners of the competition, 18 volunteers were also honored, who actively collaborated with the Albert Likhanov Library during 2017, participating in various actions and events to help orphanages and boarding schools in the city and region. These are students of educational institutions of the city, students, teachers, psychologists, poets and writers, employees of veterans' and hobby clubs, museums and simply not indifferent citizens.

In addition, at the event on behalf of the Kirov regional branch of the Russian Children's Fund in honor of its 30th anniversary, diplomas were awarded in the category "Civic Position" for selfless devotion aimed at education, upbringing, protection of the younger generation, active assistants and friends of the library. A pleasant surprise for everyone who was awarded and noted for their work was the presentation of books by Albert Likhanov with his autograph and addressed address to everyone.

Recall that the competition was held with the support of the culture department of the city administration of Kirov and the Kirov branch of the Russian Children's Fund. The partner of the competition was the Vyatka-Rospechat shopping center, which provided part of the prizes for awarding the winners.

> RUSSIAN CHILDREN'S FUND CELEBRATED ITS 30TH ANNIVERSARY

10/16/17 - THE RUSSIAN CHILDREN'S FUND CELEBRATED ITS 30TH ANNIVERSARY

Patients and partners of the charitable organization, as well as childhood volunteers, came to Moscow from all over the world. Their congress was timed to coincide with the holiday.

It took place in the Column Hall of the House of Unions. Famous artists and children's creative studios associated with the foundation took the stage. The concert program was interrupted by words of gratitude and congratulations. Dmitry Medvedev sent his message, the head of a Chinese charitable foundation recorded a special video. Their Russian colleagues have been sending children to China for treatment for 5 years. Throughout its history, the foundation has helped hundreds of thousands of children.

Albert Likhanov, Chairman of the Russian Children's Fund: We provided assistance to children in different forms, in different situations, in different positions for $ 324 million. At the same time, we have never received a single ruble from the budget.

The Russian Children's Fund is the largest charitable organization in the country. There are branches in most Russian regions. With the support of the fund, the first family orphanage in the Soviet Union was created 29 years ago.

The 16th regional Likhanov public-pedagogical readings have begun in Kirov today. The theme of this year's readings is "The Strong in Spirit Do Good: Serving Eternal Values", they are dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Russian Children's Fund. At the opening of the event, the participants were greeted by the Governor of the Kirov region Igor Vasiliev. “Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on the opening of the public pedagogical Likhanov readings and the 30th anniversary of the Russian Children's Fund, the most significant public charitable organization in our country,” said Igor Vasiliev, addressing the audience. The Governor noted that the theme of the Likhanov Readings in 2017 focuses on the situation of children in modern society, the problems of educating young citizens, and the search for ways to solve them. - Every year in our region dozens of charitable projects are implemented to help orphans, children with disabilities, children from low-income families. Educators and librarians, social workers, enterprises and organizations, politicians and businessmen are actively involved in this movement. Over the years, the Children's Fund has provided assistance to millions of children through various programs that help solve difficult childhood problems with the help and means of charitable assistance. Let love for children help to create and develop useful initiatives and projects to protect children in the future, ”Igor Vasiliev emphasized. Writer, chairman of the Russian Children's Fund, President of the International Association of Children's Foundations, Honorary Citizen of Kirov and the Kirov region, Albert Likhanov, on whose initiative social and pedagogical readings have been held since 2002, said: - The current readings are dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Children's Fund. Recently, Moscow hosted the International Congress of Childhood Volunteers, also dedicated to this date, which was attended by delegates from all countries of the former USSR. Over the past years, the Russian Children's Fund has helped children many times, including from other countries, and we will continue to do so, because a child in trouble is non-national and over-sovereign. Traditionally, at the plenary session, the best librarians of the region and the city of Kirov were awarded the Albert Likhanov Prize - for active and creative work in attracting children to reading and fostering love for books, promoting the best works and creativity of A.A. Likhanov, the introduction of innovative forms of activity. By the way, from 2005 to 2016, 160 librarians of the region and the city of Kirov were awarded prizes. Writer, Chairman of the Russian Children's Fund Albert Likhanov, Head of the Department of Russian and Foreign Literature and Teaching Methods of Vyatka State University, Professor, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences Elena Galitskikh, Chairman of the Kirov branch of the Russian Children's Fund Valentina Ivanova and others will make reports at the plenary session. As part of the Likhanov readings, which will last November 15 - 17, sectional classes will also be held at various venues of the city and region: discussions, round tables, creative laboratories, morality lessons, literary hours, presentations, meetings with specialists who are engaged in training, treatment and education. children.

Albert Anatolyevich, perhaps your case is unique - you are the author of dozens of books published in Russia alone with a circulation of 30 million, and at the same time you are a public figure, every day you are obliged to deal with the affairs of the foundation. Step over the 80th anniversary ... Have you ever had the desire to throw off the public burden from your shoulders and sit down to pen?
“My writing and my public concerns are inextricably linked. One feeds the other. I am one of those, alas, nowadays old-fashioned writers who profess the truth "literature must sympathize and save." I am convinced of this, every day coming into contact with children's grief - when I come to orphanages (and have traveled hundreds of them all over the country), when I see hopelessness in the eyes of teenagers behind bars, when I talk with desperate parents whose child has been diagnosed with a difficult diagnosis ... But also many cases Fund, probably, would not have arisen if it were not for the habit characteristic of writers: the desire to discern the phenomenon behind the fact.
- The motto of the Children's Fund: "Not a day without a good deed!" And so for 30 years ... What cases, projects, actions were especially important, perhaps the most ambitious?
- Sometimes, remembering what was done, I myself wonder: how did we manage it? Moreover, they succeeded in the national rubles, without financial injections from the oligarchs and the state. But on the other hand, when a disaster struck, we always helped the state to overcome it. After the Chernobyl disaster, 22.5 thousand children were sent by military aircraft to recover in 27 countries. As part of their program "Frontline Children of Chechnya" helped 72 children with gunshot wounds. They each opened accounts for about $ 20,000. The boy, who lost an arm and an eye, was bought with this money an apartment in Kazan, where he moved with his mother. Now he is already an expert in nuclear physics ... A girl with her legs torn off at four years old and left without a mother for several years was brought to Moscow every six months in order to have new prostheses made for her - the child was growing up! We helped children during the Spitak earthquake, after the terrorist attack in Beslan and after the war in South Ossetia ... And how many troubles have been caused by the recent floods in the Far East ... In 2013 alone, we helped almost 9 thousand children and more than 3 thousand families affected by the flood.
- All the projects of the Children's Fund are of a "fire-fighting" nature: a disaster struck - and you immediately get into work?
- Of course not. There are those who are aimed at long and methodical work to heal a sore wound. This applies, for example, to our medical programs. Here are some interim results. Thanks to the fund, over 15 thousand children with cerebral palsy received rehabilitation assistance, more than 10 thousand diabetics received self-control means, 13.5 thousand ophthalmological surgeries were performed, about 25 thousand children gained hearing ... By the way, the Deaf Children program was continued in the project "Sounds of Life". New medical advances allow children born deaf to implant special sensors. "
Now we have a program on children's tuberculosis actively working. More than 12 million rubles of the people have been spent on this. But children from more than 100 sanatoriums are waiting for help.
- And if domestic medicine cannot properly help a child, will the foundation promote treatment abroad?
- Now we are actively developing relations with China in this regard. The system of rehabilitation of patients with cerebral palsy has long been debugged there. Chinese healers have learned not only to detect this disease in the early stages, but also to treat it from the first month of a child's life. In addition, the disease turned out to be very vulnerable to the methods of traditional Chinese medicine ... The first groups of young Russians returned to their homeland, and all have excellent results.
- And yet, Albert Anatolyevich, of all the programs of the foundation, there is certainly one that is especially dear to you. Which?
- These are family orphanages that we created in 1988. A married couple could take at least five orphans. For each of the children, they received funds from the state. Mom was considered the senior educator of the state orphanage, she had a social package: salary, vacation pay, sick leave was paid, she had seniority. All this was spelled out in a special decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In Russia, 368 family orphanages were created, where almost 5 thousand beautiful children have grown up. And in 1996, the Government of the Russian Federation terminated the effect of that resolution of the Council of Ministers. Which, by the way, has not been done in other CIS countries. And in our country, family orphanages were transferred to the status of foster care. As a result, the parents who adopted the child conclude a work contract on this account, which they can terminate at any time. The civil service was dropped to the amateur level ... But our, children's fund, family houses, at least unofficially, continue to call themselves that way and sacredly keep the spirit inherent in this idea. I became convinced of this when I recently visited the village of Afipskaya, Krasnodar Territory, in the Nikolenko family orphanage - Lyudmila Petrovna and Nikolai Nikolaevich. Their family orphanage is 29 years old. They raised six blood children and 37 adopted children. Now the family has 33 grandchildren!
- And how did you react to the Decade of Childhood announced by the President?
- How can I relate to this project if for many, many years I have been shouting about its urgent need? After all, what is still happening in relation to childhood can only be called a national tragedy. It is necessary that finally all state structures and all society as a whole realize that our main capital is children. Investing love, care, funds in them is the most essential investment in the country's main resource. To the future. It is necessary to turn to face your future - otherwise it simply will not exist!
- Unfortunately, childhood is really not a priority. To be convinced of this, it was enough for me to go to the familiar children's library. It turns out that she is no longer a child's at all - they have optimized ...
- If there was no library in my childhood, what would have happened to me? I can't imagine ... After school, my friends and I ran to the library to get our favorite book. And librarians would schedule by the hour who reads whom.
The Children's Fund publishes magazines: "Human Child" - for everyone who is worried about the problems of modern childhood, "God's World" - for family reading, for believers of different generations and those who are still on the path to faith. The third magazine is “Guiding Star. School reading ". We print, first of all, classics - domestic and foreign, as well as works of contemporary writers: Vladislav Krapivin, Irina Tokmakova, Vladislav Bakhrevsky, Elena Gabova ...
We at the Children's Fund established our own program “Children's Library” a long time ago. It is inconceivable to calculate how many books have been handed over to libraries in different parts of the country in 30 years. For example, more than 16 thousand books were sent to 19 Far Eastern libraries, which were simply washed away by the water. The librarians cried as they parsed the parcels — they hadn't seen new books for over ten years! We took care of 72 children's libraries in Crimea and Sevastopol - within the framework of a special program we donated 15 thousand books. The Children's Fund established the Prize "Vocation" and for several decades we have been rewarding librarians of the Kirov and Belgorod regions.
- Albert Anatolyevich, probably only a writer can be so caring for the "guides" of children to a smart and kind book. But now writers are also forgotten ...
- The need for a wise and complex book, nurtured for centuries, cannot be killed in a Russian person just like that. But in many ways you are right. And it haunts me too. Therefore, I try to immortalize the names of our outstanding masters of the word and I also do this through libraries. And now, at my request, the name of the writer Yuri Bondarev was assigned to one of the Volgograd libraries - on that land he fought and received his first wound. Yuri Vasilievich, at the age of 23, had already finished the war and went to literature. It is understandable why mastery came to him so quickly. These soldiers and lieutenants, having gone through the purgatory of war, felt the need to fulfill their duty for the departed. A library named after the remarkable poet Yegor Isaev, who is also from the generation of front-line writers, has appeared in Voronezh. Recently Viktor Potanin celebrated his 80th birthday, the author of poignant works for young people, long recognized as classics. And less than a month later, I received a message from Aleksey Gennadievich Kokorin, the governor of the Kurgan region: the Kurgan regional children's library was named after Viktor Fedorovich.
- And what is now on the table at the writer Albert Likhanov? Are there any books with a fresh ink smell? Show off!
- I'm not used to bragging, but I confess: there are such books. Recently I returned from Vietnam, where I was invited by a local publishing house, which released the fifth reprint of my novel "My General". The interest of the Vietnamese readers stunned me. He signed 500 books at the presentation. And in Russia recently my new novel Look Back at the Bend, or the Chronicle of a Forgotten Time, was published. This is a kind of continuation of the novel in the novels "Russian Boys". And next to this book is the manuscript of the story about my mother, on which I finished working the other day. She will also be included in the novel "Russian Boys". It was important for me, it was cordially important to have time to say thank you to my mother ...
- And finally: how will the celebrations in honor of the foundation's anniversary be held?
- On October 14, in the Column Hall of the House of Unions in Moscow, where the first founding conference of the fund was held 30 years ago, we will hold celebrations in honor of the anniversary and at the same time the International Congress of Childhood Volunteers. This combination is not accidental, because most of the participants and delegates of the congress are inextricably linked with the history and affairs of the foundation. 800 people will come - these are those who serve childhood with their daily work and care. We want to pay tribute to colleagues, doctors, foster parents, volunteers, donors ... These are the real heroes of our time - people who serve childhood.