On the first day of the Christmas Fast, November 28, 2024, the traditional charity event of the Mercy service "Give joy for Christmas" started. 13 years ago, it was invented by volunteers, who over the years in Moscow alone handed over more than 300,000 gifts collected by benefactors. This year, the service is preparing surprises for the lonely elderly, adults and children with serious illnesses, as well as for the wounded in Moscow hospitals.
The campaign takes place in a dozen Russian cities, and on its website you can find links to partner events in Donetsk, Belgorod, Tomsk, Veliky Ustyug, Khabarovsk, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Rostov and other cities.
As part of the "Give joy for Christmas" campaign, a catalog of gifts that the disadvantaged need is being formed. The participants of the action in Moscow will be able to pay for these surprises and deliver them in a convenient way to the festive warehouse until the very evening of Christmas Eve. From January 8, the volunteers of the Mercy service will go to a tea party with the wards to deliver gifts from benefactors to them. The online catalog of hidden gifts will start working on December 4, the feast of the Introduction to the temple of the Most Holy Theotokos.
In addition to toys, clothes and household appliances, Mercy collects a charitable budget in order to make the main Christmas gift — to provide 30,000 people who are cared for by the service with decent care for a year. Donations will be used for wholesale purchases of medical supplies and specialized hygiene products: absorbent diapers, adult diapers, cellular mattresses, lotions and detergents for patients with limited mobility. With the professional expertise of the sisters of mercy, crutches, strollers, underwear, pajamas, warm clothes for residents of boarding schools and almshouses will be purchased. The collection of funds begins on the first day of the Christmas Fast on November 28 and will last until Epiphany itself — until January 19.
The campaign also raises funds for creative materials for children who are in hospitals in Moscow. Many of them are waiting for complex operations or recovering from surgery for many weeks, spending time far from home and relatives. Mercy volunteers try to diversify the leisure time of young patients with master classes, board games, reading and joint creativity. For these classes, supplies of stationery, coloring books, puzzles, puzzles, literature are needed.
The Mercy Service invites everyone who wants to spend the Christmas fast in good deeds to take part in the "Give Joy for Christmas" campaign. All participation options, cities and types of hidden gifts can be found on a special website.
The Mercy Relief Service is the largest Orthodox social service in Russia. 26 projects specializing in different categories of care for wards are located in Moscow, some programs are distributed throughout the country. Every year, the staff and volunteers of the service provide assistance to at least 30,000 people, helping people with serious illnesses, the lonely elderly, orphans, those in need and those in a crisis situation. The mission of the Mercy service is to follow the commandment of loving one's neighbor through good deeds and helping the suffering