Over 700 companies and associations
joined #WEARETOGETHER, a countrywide help initiative started by the United People’s
Front, Medical Volunteers national public organization, and DOBRO.RU platform.
At an online press conference hosted by Rossiya Segodnya International News
Agency, organizers and partners of the project talked about their
newly-launched hotline, volunteer branches that assist elderly and disabled, as
well as exciting cases of Russians coming together against the
coronavirus.
The Roscongress Foundation was
among those who initiated the hotline to assist those in need and coordinate the
help for 60+ residents, the age bracket most affected by the COVID-2019. Having
learned about the necessity to launch such centre, the Roscongress Foundation
moved fast to prepare the infrastructure, provide the equipment, and train the
personnel to make it happen. The foundation single-handedly operates the
hotline. All coordination services for the hotline employees come at no cost,
which is particularly important during these challenging times.
Mikhail Kuznetsov, Head of the
Executive Committee at the United People’s Front, reported that the elderly and disabled assistance
hotline already received over 4.5 thousand calls and the number keeps growing.
150 non-profit organizations joined their efforts for the #WEARETOGETHER
initiative. “Everyone is coming together for this: our entire volunteer corp,
Volunteer Centre Association, Medical Volunteers. The latter have taken the
hardest hit: their organization is the foundation for the volunteer community
that helps the elderly, buys groceries and meds for them. Still, the moment the
hotline was launched it became evident that there is a huge number of those
that need help and those who want to give it. Life itself inspired
#WEARETOGETHER project,” said Mr. Kuznetsov.
Aleksei Komissarov, Co-Chair of the
Central Headquarters, United People’s Front and CEO of the non-profit
organization Russia – The Land of Opportunity called upon the participants of Digital Breakthrough,
their flagship competition to contribute ideas and IT-projects to the battle
against COVID-19. He invites everyone to send their projects in healthcare,
medicine, stats and data analysis, remote education and remote help to [email protected].
The most promising ideas will be passed onto the Executive Headquarters on
monitoring and controlling the coronavirus situation, as well as to the
Ministry of Communications and to the Ministry of Education and Science. “We
are planning on launching an entire line-up of new education and information
offerings for remote operations based on the Senezh Management LAB products.
Our experts will teach how to run an organization, maintain its productivity
and efficiency, file human-resources and accounting paperwork – all of it remotely.
We are set to launch in April,” said Mr. Komissarov.
Unified volunteer registration occurs at http://мывместе2020.рф
DOBRO.RU maintains a separate ‘Coronavirus’ category to aggregate all
volunteer-related events in Russia. Pavel Savchuk, Chairman of Medical
Volunteers, an All-Russia public organization explained that for
identification purposes volunteers will use their passports, as well as a
special badge that features a phone number where one can confirm a person’s
belonging to a volunteer organization. “We are trying to protect both the
volunteers and those they seek to help. In Russia, there are over 30 million
people in the high-risk bracket,” noted Mr. Sachuk.
Artem Metelev, Association of the
Volunteer Centres CEO and head of DOBRO.RU reported
1231 help initiatives in just three days. Help is offered in different ways:
transportation, food, money, medical equipment, legal and psychological
assistance.
“What is happening right now is a miracle
and normal group behavior at the same time: we see a healthy society getting
together in a time of trouble. We are going to use our resources to help people
and organizations in need, those experiences shortages or deficits brought
forth by the coronavirus. We invite all entrepreneurs to become a part of this.
The website also features 91 free education projects, cultural programmes, and
entertainment. Soon, we will add various possibilities from different
non-profits and different competitions,” Mr. Metelev added.
Sergei Plugotarenko, Director of Russian
Association of Electronic Communications believes
the current situation has potential growth points for the IT businesses. “Being
the operator of the Digital Breakthrough competition, RAEC reacted rapidly and
invited the 2019 and 2020 participants to join in. There are plenty of
applications and online services that help maintain a comfortable life in
self-isolation, help control your wellness, contact a medical professional, or
get educated online. We will pass the information over to the Headquarters and
to the Ministry of Communication. Understanding the challenges the pandemic
brings around, we came up with an idea to create IT-volunteers brigades. They
could help with the IT issues in the Russian regions, for instance when a
university is switching to remote education, or when the elderly requires help accessing
the online services, or whatever else the region may need.”
Julia Nazarova, President of the RUS
Food Fund said that by joining the #WEARETOGETHER
her organization first and foremost aims to help lonely elderly people. “We are
working with headquarters around the country, working together with our
partners. This initiative inspires, lots of people are ready to donate food and
deliver it, ready to contribute money. Those willing to help can log onto продовольствие.рф, where they can help
purchase groceries for those in need. We are putting lists together with local
social assistance agencies and regional organizations that we partner with,”
said Ms. Nazarova.
Various companies and non-profits keep
joining forces with #WEARETOGETHER. The Roscongress Foundation, Rostelecom, and
Volunteers of the Constitution have already offered their resources. Talks with
Tinkoff are currently underway.
Volunteers receive requests at the
following hotline: +7 (800)-200-34-11.
