Kindness: Health Camp
(Summer 2005)

A summer camp for 25 children from at-risk (low-income, single parent, and alcohol abused) families in Vidlitsa. For the village children, this was an important opportunity for them to have regular meals and be involved in activities to improve their health. In addition to participating in sports and entertainment events, the children at the camp also helped the community by cleaning the shores of Lake Ladoga and helping elderly citizens. The children especially enjoyed a trip to Peterhof (the former summer residence of the Tsars) that the camp organized; this was quite an adventure as many of the campers had never even been to Petrozavodsk. Alexandra Spiridonova, head of Kindness, noted how important it is for children at risk to “have a place to come; to have a meal and a bed if their parents are drunk; to have something useful and interesting to do.”