On 19 December Maria’s Children took part in the New Year activities at the Tverskoy District Center of Social Services. Our staff member Irina held master-class on souvenirs from yarn for local pensioners, who twisted pompons with great enthusiasm and then used them to create chicken, a snowmen or just fluffy balls.

On 19 and 20 December our children from the Family care assistance center “Sputnik” and young people from the Psychoneurological institution No 16 attended a New Year master-class at Marriott Hotel on Novy Arbat street. First, they formedbiscuits with special cookie cutters and while they baked, one of the pastry-chefs, Irina, showed us around the restaurant’s confectionary. It was really impressive to see how many clever devices real pastry-makers use!

On 21 December several orphanage graduates visited the Moscow Regional Volleyball Center where they met with a women’s team “Zarechye-Odintsovo”. There our young people had a lucky opportunity to play with stars of Russian volleyball. We thank the head coach Vadim Pankov and all his team for such a warm and friendly welcome!

In November-December Maria’s Children took part in New Year charitable fairs where we raised funds to carry on our programmes. The outcomes are the following:

On24 December we held a New Year party for kids from the neighborhood and also for children and grandchildren of our staff members and volunteers. This time we welcomed actors from the Arts Center “Sreda” with their “Travelling Theatre” programme.

We have been celebrating the upcoming New Yearthe whole week. For each children’s or adults’ orphanage group we organized a special New Year art class followed by a tea-party with cheerful congratulations and presents. Thank you to the Father Frost Vanya and the Snow-Maiden Yulia!