Returning to Russia: CISNY Visits Needy Schools in St. Petersburg and Karelia

Elementary and high school students at St. Petersburg's School 20 pass through their hallways holding holiday gifts donated by friends in New York City.

Communities in Schools, New York, Inc. (CISNY) staff persons Stephen Menchini and Alan Dubrow traveled to Russia in April 2005 for a  visit to schools in Karelia and St. Petersburg.  This is the second time that CISNY has hand-delivered educational goods and services to the children attending these schools.

Since 2003, CISNY has been working with schools and after-school programs in Russia.  CISNY's goals are twofold: to provide needy Russian schoolchildren with resources for education and daily living, and to link Russian youth with their peers in the United States via pen pal exchanges and other forms of communication.  What began as an effort to build bridges has now become an ongoing CISNY initiative, expanding to other areas and activities.

"The 4,500 miles between New York City and St. Petersburg doesn't seem so very far after all," said Mr. Menchini.

A teacher at School 20 uses a bulletin board display in a lesson on letters of the Cyrillic alphabet and basic geometrical shapes.

A month after his initial visit to St. Petersburg's School 20 in November 2004, Mr. Menchini asked his friends to forgo holiday gifts and instead give financial support to CISNY for its program at that school.  That simple appeal yielded over $5,000, including a gift of $1,000 from the congregation of Saint Peter's Lutheran Church of Manhattan.  Those donations allowed CISNY to provide classroom materials and holiday fun for the children and staff of School 20.

This year, an additional dona-tion of $1,000 from Astoria Federal Savings Bank enabled the purchase of two laptop computers for CISNY's pen pal exchange program.  One laptop was given to an after-school program for physically disabled children in Karelia, a region just north of St. Petersburg. The other laptop was given to the Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, a partnering school in the pen pal exchange.  The laptops have Cyrillic and English keyboarding capa-bilities.

Upon returning to New York, CISNY staff person Alan Dubrow, who coordinated the Astoria donation, remarked, "I don't know who got more joy out of this visit-us or the children. The kids were very happy to see us and the staff was hospitable and accommodating."  Dubrow added, "The thing that really got me was the lunch we had there.  I haven't had soup like that since my grandmother passed away."

Elementary students at School 20 display English-language picture books donated by CISNY and friends.	High school students smile for their visitors during a science class.

Russian Schools:  How are they different from ours?

• Visiting a Russian school, such as School 20 in St. Petersburg, is a different experience for most Americans who are accustomed to American schools.
• School 20 is a comprehensive school, which means that includes children in kindergarten through 12th grade.
• There are just over 200 children in School 20, divided evenly among the grades.
• Over thirty of School 20's students also live at the school.  They are orphans, children who have either been abandoned or whose parents have died.  The children eat, study, sleep, and grow up at the school.
• When a guest walks into a classroom in Russia, students stand out of respect. CISNY staff member Stephen Menchini added, "I am lucky.  The children are getting to know me.  Not only do they stand, they also smile now."

How are we helping? CISNY's Contributions to Schoolchildren in Karelia and St. Petersburg

Over the past two years, CISNY has accomplished the following:

• The creation of a pen pal exchange program between two schools in Russia and two in New York City
• A donation of computers to St. Petersburg's School 20 and to programs in Karelia, shipped for free thanks to  Aeroflot, the national airline of Russia
• A donation of books, school supplies, and arts and crafts materials to Russian schools
• A donation of funds to purchase wheelchairs for disabled students in Karelia
• A holiday party for 200 students at School 20

CISNY would like to thank the following New York City-based groups for their generous contributions to CISNY for Russian children: Saint Peter's Lutheran Church, Astoria Federal Savings Bank, International Financial Services (IFS), and Goldman Sachs.  CISNY would also like to thank Mikhail Pronin, NYC Vice Consul General of the Russian Federation, and Colonel Charles Heberle (retired), founder of the You the People citizenship program.  Finally, a special thanks to Aeroflot, the national airline of the Russian Federation.