In 1993 Maria Yeliseyeva arrived at Moscow Orphanage School no. 103 for the first time, and from that moment began the history of Maria’s Children studio. The first person to support her was her husband, Ilya Segalovich, who not only actively participated in work and lessons with children, but also provided the studio with material support in the beginning stages.

Now that we have changed from simply a group of volunteers to a public organization, it is already very clear that in both arts and charity circles we can happily say that we’ve formed a true team of enthusiasts. These are people - many of them volunteers - who regularly spend time with the children, take them into their homes, and try to give them just a little bit of the warmth and love that life has taken away from them. It’s just wonderful that there are so many people in this world who are not indifferent to the fate of such children. Our project would likely never have been so successful if it weren’t for the help of a giant number of volunteers from the most diverse countries of the world. In first place, a great big thanks must be given to Jen Adams, who for many years now has been helping us in our work and even registered “Maria’s Children International” in the US. You can familiarize yourself with the organisation’s activities at www.mariaschildren.org Our team is our greatest strength. The fact that there is such a number of people in society who are not indifferent to the fate of orphans gives us hope that the situation here will change. We intended to talk about everyone who works with us in this space, but as the number of these people is constantly growing, there’s always the possibility of leaving someone out, which we really wouldn’t want to do. So simply come, meet, and join us!

What we would especially like to mention, though, is two wonderful people who did a great amount for us, but who unfortunately are no longer with us. They are Mikhail Losev and Penny Goodman . Blessed be their memory!