Every summer we help Kondopoga parish to feed 30 of the town’s most deprived children during the summer holidays. Every day they came to parish house for a hot lunch followed by games. Some of the children come because their family is simply too poor to feed them, like the family with four boys under six whose father is too ill to work. However, many are also seriously neglected because of alcohol problems in the family.
This year, two boys aged six and ten were taken away from their parents and put in a children’s home because of neglect. Fortunately that wasn’t the end of the story. Because they have come to the parish for lunch two years running, they didn’t have to stay in the home for long. This autumn, the brothers were adopted by parishioners. They are already thriving in their new family: they have taken up skiing and swimming and have a real sparkle in their eyes.