The Mercy Service of the Vyatka Society dedicated to St. Nicholas in the Vyatka diocese opened an apartment-shelter for homeless people BlagoDat (“Give Blessings”).
The opening of the apartment for people in difficult life situations took place under the Warm Home project – a temporary accommodation facility for the homeless, organized by volunteers from the Savior Cathedral in Kirov, reports the Synodal Charity Department.
“This is a very important event. Previously, we lacked this segment. We needed a place in which people who came to the Warm Home could wait before they were assigned to any residential institution. Now, those awaiting the determination of their place of residence have decent housing – a warm apartment,” said the rector of the Savior Cathedral, Father Pyotr Mashkovtsev.
The shelter will be able to accommodate six people – homeless people with disabilities or injuries – until they are placed in residential institutions or until they recover. At the same time, volunteers of the mercy service will help people with paperwork for residential institutions.
The apartment-shelter BlagoDat was opened with the support of the director of the public and church shelter for the homeless, Warm Welcome in Khimki near Moscow, an expert of the Synodal Department for Charity, Ilya Kuskov.
“When I met Ilya, I immediately told him our idea. Many homeless people with disabilities, who were waiting for the paperwork to enter a residential institution, lived in our Warm Home, a night shelter, for weeks, although it is not intended for a long stay. Thanks to the advice of Ilya Kuskov, we managed to equip an apartment-shelter for homeless people with disabilities,” said Olga Potapova, Head of the Mercy Service of the Vyatka Society in the name of St. Nicholas.
She said that the three-bedroom apartment has a shower, toilet and kitchen.
“An administrator is constantly present with our wards, a cook comes every two days. For those who cannot move independently, we have purchased a wheelchair and a medical bed. Of course, we have just begun to work, we still have to solve a lot of organizational issues, but we are ready for this, as this is a very necessary project,” added Olga Potapova.
Today, the BlagoDat apartment exists at the expense of benefactors who pay for its rent and help in the purchase of products for the wards. Now two people live in the apartment, who are preparing documents for entering a residential institution.
In total, 95 shelters for the homeless have been founded in Russia and other countries, with the participation of the Russian Orthodox Church, there are 22 Busses of Mercy, mobile points for helping the homeless, and more than 500 charity canteens.
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