Food and Clothing
The Love Russia team drove up the dusty mud road to arrive at the front of the orphanage.  Nobody came out to meet them.  They entered the dilapidated hallway and made their way to the kitchens where they could hear talking. The director was tying to encourage the cook and on enquiry it was discovered that food supplies were scarce. The only vegetables they had was a bucket of mouldy carrots that a local farmer had given them as his animals wouldn’t eat them.  On the way to the directors office they saw children, white faced, dressed in grey old fashioned outfits sitting and staring into space. Everyone was suspicious of the team and why they had come.
Food: Thankfully the above circumstances are not found today in the area that Love Russia works in. Through a Love Russia program of help and later increases in state support children can now expect at least 3 meals a day. Although it may be very plain and monotonous, it is nourishing and Love Russia particularly encourages the provision of fresh fruit, vegetables and vitamins to supplement their diet.
Clothes: Good clothes are extremely important in a country that can experience temperatures well under freezing for six months of the year and then up to + 30 C during the summer. Love Russia runs programs to keep replacing worn out garments, underclothes and the thousands of pairs of socks and shoes needed throughout the year. Unless attached to a specific campaign clothes are not taken in to Russia but brought locally or made in Love Russia vocational training centres so helping other children and local economies.  Love Russia also provides modern washing machines to help carers with the laundry.