NGOs opposed the format of the action of the Ministry of Education of the Moscow Region on the transfer of gifts from the population to orphanages

The Association of Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) “All Together” initiated a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Education of the Moscow Region Lyudmila Ovechkina and opposed the format of the “Become Santa Claus!” campaign, during which people can donate a New Year’s gift to one of 15 orphanages. As the association clarified in a conversation with “Such Affairs”, such a format aggravates the problem of socialization of orphans and creates in society only the illusion of solving the problem of orphanhood.

“Unfortunately, the Ministry of Education decided not to take our recommendations into account and continue to hold the action in the same format,” the association said. “In 2019, the association plans to hold several expert round tables to publicly convey to society the importance of conscious philanthropy.”

During a meeting on December 14 with Ovechkina, members of the “All Together” association noted that such actions instill in children an incorrect perception of the world around them.

“Massive gifts from strangers harm children in orphanages,” said Kira Smirnova, executive director of the association. “This practice provokes the formation of special dependent attitudes in them. After leaving institutions, the amount of care that was expressed in privileges and gifts suddenly stops, graduates are faced with life difficulties for which they were not prepared.”

At the same time, people who make gifts to children's institutions create “the illusion that in this way they are helping to solve the problem of orphanhood, which is not true.”

The head of the River of Childhood charity foundation, Olga Pozdeeva, said that NGOs proposed to the regional Ministry of Education an approach taking into account the interests of children, involving conscious assistance with an understanding of the consequences that an “impersonal, avalanche-like mass of gifts” has for orphans. The recommendations were not accepted, as Pozdeeva is convinced, since for representatives of educational institutions for orphans, due to the prevailing peculiarities of financing, the ongoing action is “an opportunity to strengthen the material and technical base of orphanages.”

“We are trying to reorient people towards competent help and conscious charity, we encourage them to support long-term programs such as socialization, career guidance, mentoring, work to prevent social orphanhood, post-boarding support, employment,” concluded Smirnova.

“Things like this” have repeatedly talked about why pre-New Year charity events with mass sending of gifts to orphanages are bad. Inept volunteering and misunderstood kindness cause great harm to children. Experts compare “showering children with gifts” to bullying them.