Orthodox Christians intend to create a database of Moscow homeless people

On September 16, 2010, the Synodal Department for Charity held an expanded meeting on the problems of the homeless with the participation of leaders of Orthodox movements helping the homeless in Moscow. The meeting was attended by representatives of 10 parishes, of the Orthodox Church, homeless help service of the charitable foundation "Assistant and patron", service "Social Patrol" of the Moscow department of social protection of the population, movement "Kursky railway station - homeless children", the Orthodox service "Mercy".

As a result of the meeting, it was decided to create a Coordinating Council for work with the homeless at the department.

The meeting participants decided to create a unified database of Moscow homeless people with the issuance of laminated photo IDs. According to the head of the department, Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, voluntary registration will help "identify among the homeless those who want to get on their feet. If they voluntarily take pictures, this may be a sign that that they have a desire to return to normal life."

At the meeting, it was decided to resume the "Street Cleaning" project, which provides for the involvement of the homeless in cleaning city streets for food, clothes and a place to sleep. However, this project requires additional agreement with the authorities.

Sources

• Registration cards will be introduced for the homeless in Moscow // Diakonia.Ru. 2010. September 17th.