Spreading Good Deeds

Leonid Lytovchenko of Krasnoarmiysk, Donetsk oblast, worked below ground for 14 years as driver of a mine skip. He grew up in a large family and could not remain indifferent to children begging in the streets. Then he had an idea to build an orphanage. Lytovchenko found a rundown building, which had been vacant for three years, bought it with the help of like-minded people, and began renovations. At that time his relatives emigrated, sold their home, and left the money to charity.

Gradually a second building was built, along with a cafeteria and basement. For assistance they appealed to enterprises. Paradoxically, only the poorest ones responded. A mine director, who had not been able to pay his miners for a year, brought a refrigerator. His colleague, also was behind in paying his workers, brought an electric stove. Yet the directors of well-off organizations just threw up their hands, saying they would be happy to help but lacked the wherewithal. Local people brought what they could: a bucket of potatoes, a can of conserved meat, a piece of fatback. One elderly lady brought a chicken.

"And your certificate?" asked the vigilant health inspector.

Then came the Tax Administration: "And what are you living on, citizen? We want a documented report!"

And in the orphanage itself from a formal standpoint only violations were found. It has existed almost a year and a half, and ten people work there. None are paid. However, they do eat at the orphanage, taking food away from the orphans whom the state... Stop! What state? It has done absolutely nothing for these orphans. It has promised: for example, to pay for utilities, but when the bill came, it turned out that the budget had no money to do so.

A number of times they turned to the Children of Ukraine Foundation. The mayor of Krasnoarmiysk wrote a request, and so did the Deputy Head of the Donetsk state administration. It turned out that the Ministry of Education official who had worked with the orphanage was fired, and the orphanage was left with nothing.

"If we had 2000 hryvnias a month so we could pay our utility bills," complained Leonid Lytovchenko from the tribune at the founding meeting of People's Solidarity. Immediately from the presidium, People's Deputy Yevhen Marchuk, elected chairman of the organization, promised to take the orphanage under his patronage: "This will be our social organization's first concrete action."

"There are lots of good people," Leonid Lytovchenko is convinced. "The problem is finding them."

Those who perform good deeds individually are to be united by the People's Solidarity All-Ukrainian Social Association, founded last Saturday.