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New Year’s presents collected by HSE students and staff as part of the Open Your Eyes project have been delivered to special needs children at orphanages in the Tver and Vladimir regions.
In December 2017, HSE’s Open Your Eyes charity project collected the presents over the course of a week, when HSE students, HSE Lyceum students, their parents, and HSE staff brought presents so that children from orphanages could feel the holiday spirit.
In addition to present collection points, New Year’s fairs offered anyone an opportunity to buy a souvenir for friends and family, or treat themselves to a Christmas cookie. All of the money raised at these fairs was also spent on presents based on requests made by orphanages.
The holiday marathon started on December 24. 75 children from Mednoe Boarding School (Tver region) were the first to receive sweet presents. On January 6, on Orthodox Christmas Eve, Santa delivered big holiday sets (mugs, towels, sweets, arts & crafts sets, colouring pictures, and shower gels) to 365 students at the Sobinka Boarding School in the Vladimir region. And on Old New Year, January 14, presents were delivered to 133 children at the Kolchugino Boarding School (Vladimir region). The children had written real letters to Santa, and the teachers passed them to volunteers from Open Your Eyes so that every child was able to receive the present they wanted.
Participants in the Open Your Eyes project are grateful to everyone who brought presents, baked sweets, and created handmade gifts for the fairs. Thank you for helping us create a Christmas fairy-tale!
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