THERE SHOULD BE GOOD

Mercy

Katya Bermant and her friends do charity work professionally, skillfully, and effectively. And - with an inexhaustible ability for self-development. I was once again (or not at all superfluous?) Once I was convinced of this, having visited two weeks ago ...

Katya Bermant and her friends do charity work professionally, skillfully, and effectively. And - with an inexhaustible ability for self-development.

I once again (or not at all superfluous?) once convinced of this, having visited two press conferences a week ago, to which Katya invited me.

However, first things first.

First - who is Katya Bermant. I talked about it in detail (see "New" No. 14 of February 27 of this year, "Dry Butt"). But for those who have not read, I will introduce. Katya Bermant has been raising money for small children for four years now. On the operation of heart defects. These operations must be carried out at a very early age. The earlier the better. In the Bakulev Center, for example, a wonderful surgeon Amiran Shotaevich Revishvili recently performed an open-heart operation! — a child who was only two days old. Operation was successfully completed. The child is alive and well. If such a child undergoes surgery, everything will be fine with him. And if you don’t do it, you will either die or become severely disabled.

Now - numbers. Very scary.

Today in Russia:

25,000 children are born annually with congenital heart and vascular defects; of these, up to 70% require surgery immediately after birth or before the first year of life.

In 2005: 3360 children were operated on at the Scientific Center for Agricultural Surgery. A.N. Bakuleva (Moscow); 1020 children - in NIIPK them. Meshalkin (Novosibirsk); 350 children each - in clinics in St. Petersburg, Kazan, Krasnodar, Perm.

42% of children with heart disease without surgery will die in the first month of life; another 25% will die within a year.

Only 5% of operations can be paid by parents;

97% of children operated on in a timely manner live a healthy life

(according to the A.N. Bakulev Scientific Center of the Agricultural Union)

And according to the head of the department of young children, the Scientific Center of the Union of Artists named after. A.N. Bakulev Konstantin Shatalov: 60 thousand children die of heart disease in Russia every year. And since there are a maximum of 9,000 children's heart surgeries per year in the country, today the turn for urgent (!) Surgery with this diagnosis is 120,000 children.

So: we can’t “fix” small children with heart disease in time. Of 100% of children with congenital heart disease, only 30% receive a free quota from the state. Katya Bermant says that these are the ones who stand closest to the "window". That is: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk. Big cities. And in distant small towns, they can’t even always diagnose there. But even those who come to Moscow to the Bakulev center for diagnostics may not receive a quota. And then these children have only one chance - charity.

When Katya is asked how she can help here, Katya replies: “I can ask for money.” Katya asks. Successful people. Or - from firms and companies.

Katya's Children's Hearts Foundation is not just small, but very small. Just two people. But in four years, the Children's Hearts fund raised a million dollars. These are all private donations. And thanks to them, 230 children were operated on.

Heart surgeries are expensive. Each costs from five to eight thousand dollars to twenty and more. What else can Katya do besides asking for money? Connect those who need help with those who want to help. Katya and connects.

So: the first press conference was devoted to this "connection".

It was the presentation of the “All Together” project: a year ago, fifteen small and very small foundations (including Katin) united in the Moscow Charitable Assembly. (Katya Bermant says this: “We are the first trade union working in charity.” And she explains why it was created: “Together we can do more.”) And at the press conference of the “All Together” project, a new Internet resource was presented (website "http//www.wse-wmeste.ru"). This site is an amazing document. Made well and of good quality. And there are two cherished buttons on it: one is for those who need help, the other is for those who can help.

The site suggested doing "Yandex". "Yandex" and helped. If you go to this site, make sure that the "who can help" button is clicked very often. And those who can help thank those who ask for help, more than vice versa. Here is a private philanthropist Mikhail admits: “I personally believe that a person who turns to me for help is doing me a favor. He gives me the opportunity to help him."

Louder, stronger and more powerful than the Internet, we probably have nothing today. When a girl from Pyatigorsk, Medea Prepelitsa, was saved (an unrelated liver transplant, an operation in a Belgian clinic costs 85,000 euros, we don’t do such operations, since cadaveric donation is prohibited in Russia) and Medea’s life was counted for hours and minutes, then the federal agency, which was supposed to give Medea a free quota, met once every three months, and the Internet worked around the clock. And through the Internet (and also radio and television) for Medea, they found all 85 thousand euros and even more (see "New" No. 59 of August 7 of this year).

The second press conference was held at the Year of Charity press center and was titled long and tricky: "Comprehensive charitable programs in Russia are a challenge for big business." But in fact, this is again the story of Katya Bermant.

In April of this year, the Life Line charity program temporarily suspended payments. And a stream of sick children poured into Katya's fund. I remember that Katya and I met at Chistye Prudy, and I did not recognize her. Always cheerful, smiling Katya, but here there was no face on her. The cell phone rang every minute. People begged for help, but Katya had no money at all. “I met with a dozen businessmen, and no one promised money. And four children need to be operated on very urgently. They can die today,” Katya said.

And now, in absolute despair, Katya Bermant writes a letter to the head of the TransTeleCom company, Sergey Lipatov. The answer, according to Katya, comes quickly and generously. The company "TransTeleCom" immediately gives money for the operations of these four children. And finances the trip of the diagnostic team of cardiologists to Kabardino-Balkaria.

One-time help is already good. But the relationship between the very small fund "Children's Hearts" and the very large company "TransTeleCom" did not stop there. And at a recent press conference, a long-term charity program “Children's Hearts of TransTeleCom” is announced. The program is calculated (so far) until 2010. TransTeleCom allocates money for operations on sick children from very poor families. In addition, the company pays for expeditions of leading pediatric cardiologists from the Bakulev Center to the most remote regions of Russia to diagnose children with cardiovascular diseases.

All this charitable assistance to the Children's Hearts Foundation will cost TransTeleCom a million dollars. Is it appropriate to call this number? I think yes. Margaret Thatcher once said: “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he only had good intentions. He also had money."

In Russia, they treat private money (or company money) as public money. That is, if a person (or a company) has a lot of money, then this is not his (their) money, but ours, common. Why all of a sudden? Charity is voluntary. And here the word "should" is inappropriate.

In 2005, one and a half billion dollars were allocated to charity in Russia. 93% of large Russian companies are involved in charity today. These are good numbers. Worthy of respect and gratitude.

But back to the press conference. The head of the TransTeleCom company admitted: “This morning I had a dispute with my family. They proved to me that true charity is not a public affair. Help is needed, but silently, secretly. Yes, someone understands charity as intimacy. As some form of personal hygiene. And help anonymously. For various reasons. Including for reasons of their own safety. But here everyone decides for himself, for himself and about himself. But when it comes to large companies, publicity and openness are very necessary.

With us, under the charity of the same business, they always try to detect at least some kind of malicious intent. And to those who want to help, you still need to prove the purity of your intentions! And what is the result? As Igor Huberman wrote: “Good is dull and boring, / and looks lean, / and walks sideways, / while evil is plentiful and bizarre, / with taste, smell and juice.” Well, yes, evil is certainly bright, convincing and happens by itself. And goodness takes effort. But even good has a name, patronymic, surname. And people should know them. Then the good will become "with taste, smell and juice." And it will be contagious. That is an example for others.

PS Tomorrow, October 10 this year, at 19.00 in the club "Gogol" (Stoleshnikov pereulok, 11) will be the official opening of the nationwide campaign "Dry butt!". For the third time in a year, a country of people (not only Moscow) collects diapers for small children in orphanages and abandoned children in hospitals. Thousands of orphans in their beloved homeland do not have an elementary thing - diapers. All day and night they lie in wet old gauze diapers. They catch a cold, earn themselves gynecological diseases for life. This is a very raw reality. Therefore: bring diapers - and someone's particular orphan ass will become dry. Good does not have to be boring, gloomy, gloomy. Doing it is normal and fun. As Katya Bermant says: "Try it - and you will like it!".

PPS A Pyatigorsk girl, Medea Prepelitsa, on Thursday, October 5 this year, underwent liver transplantation in a Belgian clinic. For almost a year, Belgian doctors, by some incredible miracle, kept this girl alive. For almost a year, she was "on an emergency waiting list." But what was needed was a children's liver and, moreover, a rare third blood group in Europe. And on Thursday there was an operation. Went well. On Friday, Medea was transferred from intensive care to a ward.