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In 1999 MCC initiated and sponsored the interdenominational Russia With Love Steering Committee which is now co-sponsored with St. Vladimir Russian Orthodox Church. The committee solicits monies to support a joint Danish Lutheran/Russian Orthodox outreach to the poor centered in Moscow. These monies go towards pre-and-post natal care for expectant and new mothers, emergency medical assistance, assistance to help families avoid evictions, monies for food for the poor, help to Sunday schools and other needs. The monies sent are to be spent at the discretion of Connie Meyer and Fr. Pavel Vishnevsky for these purposes and to fill in the the holes of other pressing needs that arise from time to time that are not covered by other sources. Our work in Moscow simply would not be possible without the very good support of the Danish Lutheran St. Paul Society for which we are very grateful.
Over the course of 2006, we have raised $25,273 for this effort. This money has gone towards our goal of sending at least $1,000 a month to sustain Connie and Fr. Pavel's ministry to the poor in Moscow and to special needs such as oxygen equipment for a children's hospital in Moscow and tuition support for a Russian Orthodox student in need. This would not have been possible without very generous help from the Anderson family, our Disciples Week of Compassion, Zion Lutheran Church and the help of faithful respondents to our letters of appeal for fund raising.
Our goal is to help the Russian Orthodox Church during a difficult period of transition and by doing so to establish ties between American Christians and Russian Christians. Along this line, a trip for a small group of people was organized in May as a trial run. It went very well in part because of some very good help from former members of St. Vladimir's now living in St. Petersburg. This coming May we want to organize another group and hope that Fr. Gregory of St. Vladimir's or another American Russian Orthodox Priest can lead such a group. We hope to have participation from Disciples in this.
We hope this coming year to continue this effort since the needs continue as Connie points out. In the course of 2007, we hope to broaden our church support base within our denominations and among local churches such as First Presbyterian and Zion Lutheran. In addition, as a result of our contact with the Orthodox Brotherhood in St. Petersburg, we hope to find churches in the Detroit area which would have an interest in organizing an effort to help that ministry as well.
As part of our Russia With Love effort, MCC has also helped (consistent with its initiation of the 1989 General Assembly resolution on educational exchanges) students from Russia to study here. Currently John Wilhelm is working on getting admission for Konstantin Kovalev to study here for an academic year at Transylvania University. If we can get that commitment, we will need to raise money to bring this about and are hopeful in getting support from local church sources here and in our regions (i.e., Michigan and Kentucky).
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Project 1 Pregnant women and newborn babies.
We distribute vitamins to |
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Project 2 Impoverished Families. We provide food, cleaning supplies, toiletries and payment of housing and education. |
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Project 3 Families without Fathers.
Economic support as well as food and clothing. | |
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Project 4 Orphanages
Three orphanages are supported with food. |
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Project 5 Children's Hospital Morozovskaya Childern's Hospital is supported with medicine. | |
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Project 6 Distribution of food and medicine
Distribution of food and medicine to needy individuals. |
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Project 7 Acute Help Support for acute/emergency situations such as treatment of illness including operations, as well as coverage of the associated costs of death and burial arrangements. | |
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Project 8 Private Christian School The school is supported with food for three meals a day for students. |
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Project 9 Sunday Schools Two sunday schools are supported with teachers and materials as well as a summer camp. | |
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Project 10 The Dagmar/Maria Feodorovna, Danish
Princess - Russian Tsarina Memorial Sewing School
The students are women who learn to sew vestments for the Russian Orthodox Church. The school has also made vestments for the Danish Evangelical Church. The school is also responsible for teaching embroidery, knitting and lace making in the Private Christian School.
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