Regional public organization for supporting social activities of the Russian Orthodox Church “Mercy”, Moscow

Orthodox help service "Mercy"

is one of the largest[1]charitable organizations in Russia, which unites 26 social projects[2] of various directions. The “Mercy” service is the largest association of church social projects in Russia to help people in need[3]. According to the rating compiled by the Medialogia media monitoring system, the Mercy service ranks 6th among Russian charitable organizations in terms of the number of mentions in the media in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR)[4]. The service operates in Moscow with the blessing[5] of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'. The confessor and director[6] of the service is Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, vicar of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service. Currently, the service includes 26 social projects, the activities of which are carried out mainly on donations[7].

Content

• 1 History of the Mercy service
• 2 Mission of the “Mercy” service
• 3 Projects of the Mercy service 3.1 Help for children
• 3.2 Help for the elderly and seriously ill people
• 3.3 Helping the poor and people in need
• 3.4 Infrastructure projects

[edit] History of the Mercy service

On May 28, 1991, on the day of the patronal feast of the Church of the Holy Blessed Tsarevich Demetrius at the First City Hospital, His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II blessed the creation of the St. Demetrius Sisterhood[8] - a community of sisters of mercy. The blessing was received in the Kremlin, in the Archangel Cathedral, at the relics of the blessed Tsarevich Dimitri, on the day of the 400th anniversary of his murder.

The history[9] of the “Mercy” service begins with the formation of the St. Demetrius Sisterhood at the First City Hospital with the blessing of Priest Arkady Shatov, now Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky Panteleimon. The sisters of mercy took on the responsibilities of caring for seriously ill people in the First City Hospital and at home, and later in Infectious Diseases Hospital No. 2. Then an almshouse was opened, where seriously ill people were placed, for whom there was no one to care for them at home. In the 1990s and 2000s, other Mercy service projects were opened, the number of which continues to grow today.

[edit] Projects of the Mercy service

[edit] Help for children

• St. Sophia Social House was created in 1994. In 2008, it became an orphanage for boys, and in March 2015, after all the pupils were placed in families, the St. Sophia Orphanage[11] became the first orphanage in Russia for disabled children with multiple developmental disabilities, which Previously, they were kept in the most difficult department of a state boarding school.
• The Elizabeth Orphanage was founded in 1999. It is designed to accommodate 20-25 girls, among whom there are both permanent wards and girls from families in difficult life situations. Such children live in an orphanage temporarily while their families look for ways out of the crisis. In 2015, the number of pupils at the Elizabeth Orphanage included 9 girls with Down syndrome[12].
• St. Demetrius Children's Center was created in 2001. About 20 girls live here - their number is constantly changing. The work of the orphanage staff is aimed at placing the wards in families.
• Help for disabled children in state boarding schools: in two Moscow boarding schools, nurses, specialists and volunteers work with the most difficult children.
• Project to support special childhood Deti.pro: an experimental platform for working with children with multiple developmental disabilities on the basis of the Kuntsevsky Center for Promoting Family Education. Specialists and volunteers of the Children.pro project are engaged in the comprehensive development of 16 disabled children.
• Dimitrievskaya comprehensive school is an Orthodox comprehensive school with approximately 200 children. 90% of them are children from large families, as well as children from orphanages of the Mercy service.
• The children's mobile palliative service is a joint project of the Mercy service and the Martha and Mary Convent. Hospitals often cannot help children with terminal illnesses. Once the diagnosis has been made and supportive treatment has been completed, they are discharged home. Specialists of the children's mobile palliative service (doctors, nurses, social workers) try to make the stay of such children at home as comfortable as possible and avoid hospitalization. In addition, the service strives to give at least a little relief to parents, who, as a rule, are attached to such children 24 hours a day.
• The Family Settlement Center at the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy is designed to help a child left without parents find a family. The Center operates a School of Adoptive Parents. The Center's specialists also provide support and accompaniment to families who have already adopted a child. In 2015, the School of Family Organization, operating under the Center, was recognized as the best in Moscow[13].
• Developmental center for children with cerebral palsy "Elizabeth's Garden" is a specialized kindergarten for children with cerebral palsy (cerebral palsy) and severe musculoskeletal disorders. Here specialists work with children: teachers, psychologists, speech therapists[14]. This gives parents of such children the opportunity to devote time to solving everyday problems.
• The rehabilitation center for children with cerebral palsy (cerebral palsy) is a joint project of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent and the Mercy service. The center has been operating since 2010, treating patients from 1.5 to 20 years of age on an outpatient basis. An individual program is drawn up for each of them[15]. The intensive rehabilitation course lasts 20 days. About 500 patients undergo rehabilitation at the Center every year.
• Respis is a round-the-clock group for seriously ill children. Here specialists provide care for children in their care and assistance to their families. While specialists are caring for children, their parents can relax. The hospital is designed for 6 seriously ill children, each of whom can have one of their parents living with them. As a rule, a child’s stay is up to 30 days a year[16].
• The recreation center for families with disabled children “Sun in the Palms” operates every summer at the courtyard of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent in Sevastopol. Not only disabled children and their parents rest here, but also children from orphanages of the Mercy service and children from low-income large families[17]. Volunteers of the service work with the wards in the camp.
• Summer camp for large families “Voskresenskoye” is located about three hours’ drive from Moscow, in the Volokolamsk district. Large families who have no other opportunity to go out of town can relax here in nature. Volunteers from the Mercy service organize leisure activities for children at the camp, as well as prepare food and clean the premises.

[edit] Help for the elderly and seriously ill people

• The Holy Spiridonian almshouse[18] was created in 1999. In 2014, the almshouse moved to a new building, equipped in accordance with all the needs of residents. The new almshouse building is designed for 18 residents[19].
• The home visiting service[20] was created in 1991 on the basis of the St. Demetrius Sisterhood of Mercy. Service specialists provide home care for lonely elderly and disabled people. A separate area of ​​the patronage service is Orthodox nannies who help in large families.
• The palliative care service for HIV-infected people[21] is made up of nurses and volunteers who care for patients in Moscow Infectious Diseases Hospital No. 2[22].
• Help in a psychoneurological boarding school[23]: nurses and volunteers work with disabled adults in a neuropsychiatric boarding school.
• Patronage care in hospitals[24]: nurses provide patronage care at the First City Hospital. Here, 54 nursing assistants turn, feed, and treat bedsores for patients who have no relatives willing to provide quality care for them.
• The service for patients with ALS[25] (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is one of the few projects in Russia that allows patients with this rare disease to receive free comprehensive care. Service specialists provide counseling, medical, psychological and spiritual support to wards and their families, and also provide patients with breathing apparatus. In 2014, the Mercy service supported the worldwide Ice Bucket Challenge flash mob in favor of ALS patients[26]. The flash mob in favor of the “Mercy” service was attended by employees and management of Channel One, led by General Director Konstantin Ernst[27], and Sergei Kapkov[28], who at that time held the position of head of the city’s Department of Culture, doused himself with ice water along with the team of Channel One Moscow.

[edit] Helping the poor and people in need

• Homeless Assistance Service[29]: social workers provide comprehensive assistance to the homeless and people in difficult situations and on the verge of homelessness. Those in need are placed in shelters, they are helped to restore lost documents and contact their relatives. As part of the Return program, over a thousand tickets are purchased annually to send homeless people home. More than 2,000 homeless people receive assistance each year.
• The Rescue Hangar[30] is a low-threshold homeless assistance center where those in need have the opportunity to stay warm, eat, receive primary medical care, get a haircut and shave. Also on the territory of the Salvation Hangar there is a “Social Patrol” on duty, which takes the homeless for the night to the Lyublino Center for Social Adaptation. A mobile fluorography station operates weekly on the territory of the Salvation Hangar.
• The group for working with petitioners[31] accepts people in need. Depending on the content of the appeal, the applicant is provided with one-time assistance or a collection of money is announced through the website. Any request is verified before assistance is provided.
• Crisis [32][33] began operating at the end of 2011. The crisis center shelter can accommodate 9 women with children for up to 3 months.
• Humanitarian Aid Center. The center operates like a store, with the difference that goods are distributed free of charge. In the showroom, visitors can choose and receive women's and children's clothing, maternity hospital discharge kits, diapers, children's cosmetics, creams, shampoos, and toys.

[edit] Infrastructure projects

• Helpline "Mercy". Operators provide background information about church and secular social assistance in Moscow, accept requests from those in need and forward them to specialized services.[34] On average, more than 2,000 calls are received per month.
• The portal Miloserdie.ru (www.miloserdie.ru) is one of the largest charity sites on the RuNet. The portal publishes daily articles, news and reports related to charity and social issues, as well as requests for help to those in need. Miloserdie.ru is a means of connecting those who need help with those who can provide it.
• The “Mercy” volunteer service unites more than 1,500 volunteers who are involved in almost all social projects of the service: they provide assistance to seriously ill people[35], the homeless[36], the disabled, lonely old people, and transport people with limited mobility[37].

The Orthodox help service “Mercy” recorded a sharp increase in people in need

Moscow, April 12, 2021

The Moscow church aid headquarters will be deployed on the basis of the Orthodox help service “Mercy” and the Synodal Department for Charity. Some of the projects of the Orthodox service “Mercy” - “Hangar of Salvation”, the Group for working with petitioners, the reference service and others - switched to an enhanced mode of operation due to an increase in the number of requests for help. Projects where permanent residents live continue to operate as before, taking into account new sanitary rules, Diakonia.ru reports.

The “Mercy” helpline was strengthened with additional operators and became a church hotline in Moscow to help those in need during the coronavirus period. The number of requests for help to the Mercy helpline has almost tripled. From March 22 to April 9, 2,215 calls were received asking for help. On average, operators receive about 150 calls per day, on some days the number of calls reaches 200. Every day, from 8 to 22.30, calls are answered by 3 operators, as well as volunteers. The main types of requests: calls on social issues (319), spiritual questions to the priest (202), requests for help at home (190), food assistance (176), requests for help in caring for the seriously ill (30).

From March 22 to April 9, the “Group for Working with Applicants” of the “Mercy” service issued 385 food packages totaling 308 thousand rubles. Of these, 133 sets were delivered by volunteers to wards from risk groups, and another 252 applicants received food at a personal reception at the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. Every day, 3-4 new applicants who previously did not need help apply to the project.

Help for large and low-income families, single mothers and pregnant women in crisis is provided by the Center for Humanitarian Aid and the “House for Mom” of the Mercy service. Since March 22, 55 families have received assistance. In total, the two projects care for 924 families. Of these, 220 need urgent assistance. In the coming days, they will be helped with paying for rented housing, delivering hygiene products for children, medicines and clothing. The majority of requests received from the beneficiaries of the two projects were for food assistance. 129 families needed it.

The number of requests for help from homeless people at the Rescue Hangar of the Mercy service has increased. From March 22 to April 9, 3,306 homeless calls were recorded. On average, more than 170 people come for help per day, sometimes more than 200 requests. This is almost triple the normal caseload of homeless assistance projects. All 3,306 people who applied were fed, 661 people were washed, 827 people changed clothes, 132 people received medical care, 99 people were taken to the city Center for Social Adaptation for the night, 73 people received tickets home and left Moscow.

The number of requests to volunteers of the Mercy service has increased significantly. In 19 days they fulfilled 220 targeted requests. 287 new volunteers signed up for the Mercy service.

Sisters of mercy and volunteers continue to help care for hospital patients and residents of the city’s social institutions. At the First City Hospital, 19 nurses and 32 volunteers continue to work in shifts, providing daily assistance to 21 seriously ill bedridden people. In PNI No. 11, 7 sisters continue to care for 34 patients.

At the St. Spyridonievskaya almshouse of the Mercy service, 50 employees in shifts provide round-the-clock care for 19 seriously ill elderly and adults. The Palliative Care Service of the Mercy service at Infectious Clinical Hospital No. 2 currently employs 8 sisters of mercy and is assisted by 6 volunteers. They work in 3 departments and an intensive care unit. During one shift, they help 10-15 patients, doing bandages, haircuts, helping with hygiene procedures, and distributing basic necessities to new arrivals.

The patronage service “Mercy” provides care for 35 people at home from sisters of mercy and professional caregivers. Since March 22, the patronage service has trained 16 families to care for seriously ill relatives, 15 families received assistance in the form of hygiene and care products, 10 large families receive help from nannies.

[edit] Friends of Charity

Friends of Mercy[38][39] are supporters of the Orthodox help service "Mercy", who, guided by the principles of love for one's neighbor, kind and compassionate attitude towards people, on an ongoing basis support the work of the service with various categories of wards - orphans, disabled people, lonely elderly people, homeless people, seriously ill people with rare incurable diseases, people in crisis and many others.

Friends of Charity most often choose one or more ways to regularly support the service:

• Every month they donate any amount at their discretion to the needs of the beneficiaries of the Mercy assistance service, for example, one hundredth of their income. The purpose of the donation is at the discretion of the Friend, who can either donate to one/several specific projects or to the activities of the service as a whole;
• provide professional assistance to the Mercy help service within their competence (Pro Bono);
• help with personal connections, recommending their loved ones, friends and business partners to support the “Mercy” service;
• become individual fundraisers, using their personal contacts to raise funds to help beneficiaries of projects of the Orthodox help service “Mercy”;
• become voluntary coordinators of charity events of the Mercy service.

Meetings of Friends of Charity are held regularly, where you can become more familiar with social projects and ask questions to Bishop Panteleimon, the confessor of the “Mercy” service; Friends also receive invitations to charity events, including classical music concerts[40]. Friends of mercy are Andrei Merzlikin[41], Alexander Arkhangelsky[42], Tutta Larsen[43], Vladimir Fedoseev[44], Dmitry Pevtsov[45]. At the end of 2015, the number of Friends of Charity was about 6,000 people[46]. You can become a Friend of Charity by making a regular donation on the service’s website.

Ways to attract donations

Media (TV, radio, newspapers), website, social networks, advertising on the Internet, holding events (concerts, evenings, charity events, etc.), cooperation with corporate donors, disseminating information about the foundation through leaflets, booklets, etc. , donation boxes in public places, grants and subsidies from the state, grants from NGOs, commercial organizations, SMS and mailings, personal appeals to private donors, crowdfunding sites (Planeta.ru, Boomstater, etc.)

[edit] Charitable programs of the Mercy service

The structure of the Mercy service, in addition to social projects, includes three charitable programs, which raise funds to purchase tickets for out-of-town homeless people who have the opportunity to return to their homeland, purchase expensive respiratory support devices for patients with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), payment of caregivers for seriously ill people.

[edit] "Breath"

“Breathing”[47][48] is a charity program whose purpose is to raise funds for the purchase of respiratory support devices with the aim of donating them to adults and children with neuromuscular diseases who need such equipment as prescribed by a doctor. Currently, 78 patients in the service receive respiratory support using such devices.

[edit] "Return"

The “Return” program[49][50] is aimed at preventing homelessness and social rehabilitation of homeless people. The goal of the program is to provide people who find themselves in difficult life situations with the opportunity to return home. In 2014, 1,501 train tickets, 28 air tickets and 22 bus tickets were purchased with donor funds for this purpose[51].

[edit] "Nurses"

The purpose of the “Nurse” program[52][53] is to raise funds to pay caregivers for those seriously ill low-income people. Every year, the Nurses program provides life-saving care to approximately 2,000 seriously ill patients in Moscow hospitals and constantly supervises more than 50 wards at home and in almshouses [54].

[edit] "Moscow trustee"

The “Moscow Trustee” program raises funds for the organization and coordination of the work of the “Mercy” volunteer service

Activities

Support for seriously ill children and disabled children, support for seriously ill adults and disabled people, support for medical institutions (hospitals, hospices, medical centers), social rehabilitation, social adaptation and psychological assistance, psychological and social support for seriously ill and disabled people, support for socially vulnerable segments of the population, support for low-income families and citizens, support for migrants, refugees and stateless persons, support for the homeless, support for the elderly, support for childhood, family and motherhood, support for orphans and children without parental care, prevention of orphanhood, assistance in emergency situations (floods) , terrorist attacks, earthquakes, etc.), support for NGOs

[edit] Key events of the Mercy service

• “White Flower”[55] is a traditional charity festival that the service has held annually on the territory of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent since 2011. However, its history has much deeper roots: the first charity bazaars - the days of the "White Flower"[56] - in Russia were organized in 1911-1914 by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. In 2015, the collection was carried out for the needs of one of the projects of the “Mercy” service - a children’s mobile palliative service; during the campaign it was possible to collect more than 2,400,000 rubles, which was enough to ensure the uninterrupted operation of the service for three months.
• “Give Joy for Christmas”[57][58] is a large-scale annual event to collect gifts for those in need: lonely old people, disabled people, orphans, large families, homeless people, hospital patients[59]. In 2015, the service managed to collect about 30 thousand gifts, as well as 90 thousand rubles, which were used to purchase gifts for children from large families.
• “Give Joy for Easter”[60][61] is a traditional event that annually collects thousands of gifts for the beneficiaries of the Mercy service. In 2015, 1,500,000 rubles were donated during the campaign, which was enough to buy Easter gifts for 23 thousand people.
• “Give Firewood”[62][63][64] is a charity event to raise funds for the purchase of firewood for low-income families and lonely old people living in houses with stove heating. In 2015, over 600,000 rubles were collected as part of the campaign, thanks to which 70 houses of low-income families, lonely old people and disabled people from the Sverdlovsk region were provided with heat.
• “Start the Year with Charity”[65] is a traditional event starting in January, the purpose of which is to draw attention to charity and raise funds for the needs of service projects. In 2015, the campaign raised 251,256 rubles[66], which were used to pay for the services of nurses caring for seriously ill people, the purchase of breathing apparatus for patients with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), as well as assistance to the crisis.

[edit] Leaders and employees of the Mercy service

• Bishop Panteleimon (Shatov)
  is the director and confessor of the “Mercy” service, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service, vicar of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, manager of the Eastern Vicariate of the city of Moscow, confessor of the St. Demetrius School of Sisters of Mercy. He is a member of the Government Commission on the Protection of Citizens' Health, a member of the Council under the Government of the Russian Federation on issues of trusteeship in the social sphere, a member of the Public Council of the Moscow Health Department, and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital of St. Alexius, Metropolitan of Moscow.
• Svetlana Emelyanova
  is the director of the St. Sophia orphanage for disabled children. She began working in the “Mercy” service in 2010 as the head of the service unit in Children’s Orphanage No. 15. In 2014 she graduated from the St. Demetrius School of Sisters of Mercy (qualification - nurse). Since 2015 - director of the new orphanage for disabled children of the Mercy service.
• Marina Vasilyeva
  is the coordinator and one of the organizers of the Orthodox volunteer service “Mercy”, deputy chairman of the Department for Church Charity and Social Service of the Russian Orthodox Church.
• Vladlena Kalashnikova
  is the head of charitable programs at the Mercy aid service, ex-coordinator of the Breathing program, which provides the necessary equipment to seriously ill people.
• Tatyana Pavlovna Filippova
  is the chief sister of mercy of the St. Demetrius Sisterhood, in which she has worked since its founding in 1991.
• Maria Studenikina
  is the head of the crisis center. As a volunteer, she participated in organizing assistance to regions affected by forest fires. She was the first coordinator of the Humanitarian Aid Center.
• Yulia Danilova
  is the founder and editor-in-chief of one of the largest portals about charity - the Miloserdie.ru website, and formerly the editor-in-chief of Neskuchny Sad magazine.
• Anna Ovsyannikova
  is the press secretary of the Orthodox help service “Mercy”. Has been working in the service since 2013. Responsible for the organization's interaction with the media.
• Ksenia Kovalenok
  is the head of the children's mobile palliative service of the Orthodox care service "Mercy", the chief medical doctor at the Marfo-Mariinskaya Convent of Mercy.

Orthodox charity project Mercy

Social project Life.RF » Orthodox charity project Mercy

Several areas of charitable assistance through “Mercy”:

You can support the projects of the Orthodox Help Service “Mercy”. These are 18 church social charitable projects: an almshouse, 2 Orthodox orphanages, an Orthodox school, a patronage service, a “Mercy” bus, a service for helping the homeless in Moscow hospitals, a “Mercy” information service, a group for working with petitioners, sisters of mercy caring for children - disabled people in 2 Moscow boarding schools, for disabled adults in one psycho-neurological boarding school, for lonely patients, "Miloserdie.Ru" and others. The work of these projects is 90% supported by charitable donations from individuals. You can become a volunteer for the Mercy service. Volunteers provide home assistance to the elderly and large families, and help in various social and medical institutions. You can find out the current needs of the volunteer service on the volunteer forum. Meetings of new volunteers are held every Sunday at 11.45 in the Church of St. blgv. king Demetrius at the First City Hospital (Moscow, Leninsky Prospekt, 8, building 12) You can give away things that you no longer need. You can donate things to the Moscow Center for Reception and Distribution of Humanitarian Aid of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service. The warehouse is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 12 to 20 hours. You can bring things these days. Currently, the majority of women's clothing and heeled shoes are in stock. Flat shoes, men's and children's clothing are still in short supply, strollers and cribs are in very few quantities. You can bring new bed linen (for bedridden disabled people in hospitals), as well as clean pillows and blankets. Warehouse address: Moscow, st. Dubninskaya, 79 Directions: St. m. Petrovsko-Razumovskaya, minibus or bus No. 677, go to the “Microdistrict Dubki” stop, at the stop cross the other side of the road and turn right, walk 15 meters to the “Shinomontazh” sign, then turn left to a three-story building. Walk along the building to the third door (next after the cafe). An additional collection point for items has been opened at the Church of the Resurrection of the Word on Uspensky Vrazhek (Moscow, Bryusov Lane 15/2, metro station Okhotny Ryad, Tverskaya.) Items can be brought from 10 to 17. Temple employees are asked to notify them in advance by calling 8 -903-53-222-87 (Alexey, social worker). If you want to take things, you must make an appointment in advance by calling the Mercy helpline. You can donate items without making an appointment.

I need your help!

The Moscow Diocesan Commission for Church Social Activities is looking for volunteers for an Orthodox team to provide charitable assistance to the homeless. If you are ready to take part in the “Mercy” campaigns, write to

If you have a car and a few hours of free time, you could greatly help our charitable activities, take part in it, for example, take a priest to a sick person. Write to and Mercy staff will contact you when you need help.

[edit] Advertising campaigns and flash mobs of the Mercy service

• The flash mob “I Like to Help” was started by the service in October 2015[68]. The main idea of ​​the campaign is to convert “likes” on social networks into funds for the beneficiaries of the help service. The flash mob was supported by Dmitry Pevtsov, Tutta Larsen, Vyacheslav Butusov, Alena Babenko, Alena Toymintseva, Elena Zakharova. Promotional materials of the event - videos and banners - were posted by such media as the Russia 1 and Zvezda TV channels, the Kommersant.ru website, the Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers, the Ogonyok magazine, the online magazine Colta.ru, the magazine " Russian reporter", magazine "Foma", radio "Vera"; In addition, promotional materials for the action were posted on the Gismeteo portal and on billboards in Moscow. The flash mob was developed by the Mercy service together with the creative agency DDB.

[edit] Sources

1. Fundraising charitable foundations in Russia // Rusfond
2. “Joy for Christmas” will be given to those in need by the help service “Mercy” // RIA Novosti
3. The Mercy Service invites you to free courses on caring for the seriously ill // Patriarchia.ru
4. "Medialogy" prepared a study on the topic of CSR in the media // Social Information Agency
5. Orthodox service “Mercy” collected gifts for the disadvantaged // RIA Novosti
6. The Primate of the Russian Church visited the “House for Mom” in Moscow // Patriarchy.ru
7. The funds raised in the finals of the TV show “The Voice” will be transferred to the Orthodox help service “Mercy” // Patriarchy.ru
8. St. Demetrius Sisterhood // Temple of the Holy Blessed Tsarevich Demetrius
9. Pelageya voiced a sand cartoon about the sisters of mercy // Lenta.ru
10. A new premises of the St. Spiridonian almshouse for the elderly and disabled has opened in the Eastern Administrative District // City News Agency "Moscow"
11. Children's house for special children: where they listen and kiss the top of the head // TASS
12. The talents of “sunny” children are discovered at the Elizavetinsky orphanage // MIR
13. The school of foster parents of the Mercy service is recognized as the best in Moscow // Diakonia.ru
14. Go to school on your own. How children with cerebral palsy are rehabilitated in Moscow // Gazeta.Ru
15. Mercy against cerebral palsy. Habilitation and rehabilitation of children diagnosed with cerebral palsy // OTR
16. How they help those who can no longer be saved in a Moscow monastery // Website of the Dozhd TV channel
17. Sevastopol camp for disabled children needs help //NTV
18. Sisters of Mercy celebrate their professional holiday at work // NTV
19. A new building of the St. Spiridonian almshouse opened in Moscow // Orthodoxy and the World
20. Orthodox service "Mercy" begins enrollment in courses on caring for seriously ill people // Patriarchia.Ru
21. “Positive” patients: life and death within hospital walls // Orthodoxy and Peace
22. Among patients with HIV and AIDS in Russia, there are more and more middle-aged people // Foma
23. The Mercy service wished Merry Christmas to the residents of the psychoneurological boarding school. Orthodoxy.Ru. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
24. “Lightening the eyes of patients is worth a lot.” Orthodoxy.Ru. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
25. “I love my disease and just try to live.” Gazeta.Ru. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
26. The worldwide flash mob to help ALS patients was supported by the Mercy service // RIA Novosti
27. Channel One joined the Ice Bucket Challenge // Channel One
28. Sergey Kapkov took part in the Ice Bucket Challengee // Poster Daily
29. The Orthodox service “Mercy” is creating a mobile team to help the homeless. Arguments and Facts. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
30. The “Salvation Hangar” for homeless people in Moscow began working seven days a week. Russia 1. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
31. Mercy.ru. Special report by Nikolai Vasiliev. Vesti.ru. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
32. The “Home for Mom” project helps women who find themselves in difficult life situations. News. Channel One (Russian). First channel. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
33. Lyudmila Alekseeva
    Home for mothers: what brings women to the crisis center. Arguments and Facts. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
34. Help service "Mercy" - 10 years old // Russia 1
35. Lessons of love. How volunteers help seriously ill patients in hospitals // Arguments and Facts
36. The Mercy Service opens a School for Helping the Homeless in Moscow // Patriarchia.ru
37. “Life is in full swing here!” // Arguments and Facts
38. “The true meaning of life is in serving others” // Gazeta.Ru
39. “Mercy”: regular donations to charity increased by 10% // Social Information Agency
40. Music of good deeds: charity concert at the Moscow Conservatory // Russia-24, holidays, meetings with interesting people.
41. Andrey Merzlikin: “A friend is someone you can rely on” // Andrey Merzlikin // MERCY.RU
42. Alexander Arkhangelsky: “Friends of mercy are the formula of our life” // Alexander Arkhangelsky // MERCY.RU
43. Tutta Larsen: “To be a friend means to support both in joy and in sorrow” // Tutta Larsen // MERCY.RU
44. A charity concert “New Era of Mercy” will take place at the Film Actor Theater // Vladimir Fedoseev // Interfax
45. Dmitry Pevtsov: I urge you to help those who are in trouble // Dmitry Pevtsov // MERCY.RU
46. In honor of the 7th anniversary of the Friends of Charity, a charity concert will be given at the Tretyakov Gallery // Foma
47. “Breathing” for terminally ill patients // Russia 24
48. More than 420 thousand rubles were donated to Mercy for ALS patients // RIA Novosti
49. SERVICE "MERCY" HELPES YOU RETURN HOME // Evening Moscow
50. Dmitry Pevtsov: I urge you to help those who are in trouble // MERCY.RU
51. “I came to Putin for the truth”: philanthropists send homeless people home unwillingly // Moskovsky Komsomolets
52. A profession that does not exist has become one of the most in demand // Rossiyskaya Gazeta
53. Pelageya voiced a sand cartoon about the sisters of mercy // Lenta.Ru
54. The premiere of a sand cartoon about the sisters of mercy will take place in Moscow // RIA Novosti
55. The charity event “White Flower Day” was held in Moscow for the sixth time // Channel One
56. “White flower” of mercy: Nurses’ Day is celebrated in Moscow // Russia-24
57. Give joy: the Mercy service collects gifts for those in need // NTV
58. Russians are offered to make Christmas gifts for orphans and disabled people // TVC
59. At Christmas, the Mercy service gave thousands of gifts to those in need // RIA Novosti
60. “Mercy” will collect gifts for those in need for Easter during Lent // RIA Novosti
61. Campaign “Give Joy for Easter” in 2021 // Radio Vera
62. Orthodox help service “Mercy” launches a charity campaign “Give Firewood” // Social Information Agency
63. An unusual charity event “Give Firewood!” has started in the Ivanovo region. // First channel
64. How to help a village not with money, but with firewood // Vedomosti
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66. Philanthropists donated about 1.5 million rubles to the “Start the Year with Charity” campaign // Foma
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68. The charity event “I like to help” has started in Russia // Lenta.ru

Russian Orthodox Church

The Moscow Orthodox relief service “Mercy” published a statement on its website regarding the spread of coronavirus. “Mercy” is reformatting the work of many of its projects in order to primarily help coronavirus patients, their loved ones and everyone who is suffering from the current epidemiological situation.

The main assistance of the Mercy volunteer service will be the contactless delivery of food and medicine to those in need. The telephone helpline is being transformed into a hotline for working with volunteers and victims of coronavirus. By calling the 24-hour hotline +7 (495) 542-00-00 the following people can apply for help: single people over 65 years of age who need food and basic necessities; people who find themselves in an emergency situation due to an epidemic; representatives of hospitals in need of volunteers or other assistance due to coronavirus.

Projects to help the homeless of the Mercy service are working in an intensified mode. At least 150 people a day turn to these projects for urgent social assistance. “Mercy” is carrying out additional disinfection of the territory of the “Angara of Salvation” and is making the food of the homeless more nutritious. At the first sign of illness, a homeless person is referred to a doctor. If necessary, the homeless are provided with personal protective equipment, and tickets home are also purchased for those who find themselves on the streets in Moscow.

The Mercy service expects an increase in requests for help from single mothers, large and low-income families, and single elderly people. “Home for Mom” and the humanitarian aid are switching to an enhanced operating mode, expanding volunteer activity, and increasing the volume of assistance. There are 700 people under the constant care of the group working with petitioners, of which about 350 are over 65 years old. The Mercy service will provide them with the delivery of food and medicine. The patronage service and nanny service are also planning to strengthen their work, anticipating an increase in requests for help at home from lonely people with disabilities and seriously ill people.

Other projects of the "Mercy" service - the St. Sophia Social House, the St. Spyridonievskaya Almshouse, where the wards of the service live - continue their work, but are closed for quarantine and have limited communication with the outside world. The necessary precautions are being taken: additional sanitization, providing personnel with personal protective equipment.

In its statement, the Orthodox service “Mercy” calls on people not to panic, to follow WHO recommendations, to show love and care for their neighbors, to pray for each other and to help others in difficult situations.

You can support projects of the Mercy service at https://miloserdie.help/help.

You can join the Mercy service volunteers by calling the hotline or filling out a form.

The Orthodox aid service “Mercy” helps orphans, the disabled, the sick, the poor, and people in need. The beneficiaries of the Mercy service have access to not only humanitarian and medical assistance - lawyers, psychologists and other specialists work to return those suffering to normal life. Over the course of a year, up to 30 thousand people find a solution to their problem through the service.

Diakonia.ru/Patriarchia.ru _