“Plant a Tree” Charity Event in the SOS Children’s Village Pushkin

On October 13, 2009 the Grand Hotel Europe held a charity event entitled “Plant a Tree” in the SOS Children’s Village Pushkin for orphans. The event was timed to coincide with three important anniversaries: 60 years of the SOS Kinderdorf International charity organisation, 20 years of the Convention on the Rights of Children, and 15 years of the Children’s Villages – SOS Russia organisation. The event was arranged by the Grand Hotel Europe’s Charity Foundation for children and was actively supported by the staff of the hotel. A total of 70 fruit trees and bushes were planted. At the top of the alley of trees, Grand Hotel Europe and Sergei Yakovenko, the director of the children’s village, planted two rowan trees. The event’s participants included Yury Galtsev; Anna Fradkina; Tatyana Arshavina; the deputy consul of the Consulate General of Finland, Paula Karppinen; the wife of the general consul of Switzerland, Edith Hueck; the general director of Radio Zenit, Elena Vorozheva; the chief editor of Russky Metsenat, Arkady Sosonov; the chief editor of Interbusiness magazine, Vera Dmitrieva; the publisher of Svetsky Peterburg magazine, Natalya Takmakova; the PR director of Khlebny Dom, Irina Galieva; a priest from the Tsarskoe Selo district, Father Gleb (Grozovsky); Alexei Ekimov from Rusbank; Natalya Volvich from Sberbank Russia; Alfia Rakhmatulina, a friend of the village. Now all visitors to the children’s village are greeted by a fruit tree “walk of fame.” Miniature fruit gardens were laid out in front of every house by the village’s young residents and staff of the Grand Hotel Europe. The “Plant a Tree” event marked the beginning of the SOS! Childhood! International Radio Marathon, which is being held in 60 countries across the world with one shared aim: To unite hundreds of thousands of friends of the project in the name of providing every child with a loving home. The marathon begins on October 20 and will finish before New Year. The International Radio Marathon’s information partner in St Petersburg is Radio Zenit. During two years of cooperation between the children’s village and the Grand Hotel Europe, a project has been successfully implemented whereby residents of the children’s village visit the theatre and circus, receive presents at Christmas time and are given the opportunity to find a job at the hotel once they reach adulthood, while SOS mothers are taken on excursions around the Grand Hotel Europe. The SOS children’s villages provide long-term care for orphaned children. Here, every child is given an SOS mother, the warmth of a family home, brothers and sisters, attention and love. The model exists in 123 countries. There are currently four children’s villages in Russia, and another two are being built. The SOS village in Pushkin was set up nine years ago using funds collected by friends of the project in eight European countries. Now, 67 children aged from four to 19 live here in 12 family homes. The project is financed entirely by charitable donations. For more information, please visit Grand Hotel Europe’s Charity Foundation website: www.charity-russia.com

St Petersburg Russia News, Holidays and Offers at the Grand Hotel St Petersburg - Plant a Tree

http://www.grandhoteleurope.com/web/stpetersburg/releases/4_134045.jsp?c=emails&p=worldwide&cr=ghe_winter09 [12.03.2010 17:37:10]