"It's our duty." Watch how volunteers help the elderly with the delivery of products at agricultural fairs

Last weekend, the autumn agricultural fair season started in Minsk. Traditionally, volunteers of the Good Heart movement of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union provide assistance to elderly people in the delivery of purchased products. In the Leninsky district of Minsk, at the fair, which unfolded in the parking lot near the Salyut cinema, students of secondary school No. 55 were on duty. Correspondents of “Banners” joined a group of volunteers and learned that motivates teenagers on their weekend to help other people.

"Who if not us?" At 10:00 volunteers are already on duty: they are easily recognized by the red windbreakers with the BRSM emblem. About who they are and why they are here, reports the banner installed at the beginning of the shopping rows with an eloquent slogan: “Respect in action”. Since the children are minors, during the action they are accompanied by a school teacher-organizer. While there are few buyers, we meet guys. 10th grade student Arseniy Sergienya joined the volunteer movement six months ago:

- He became a volunteer following the example of his older brothers: as schoolchildren, they also participated in charity events and projects. What else motivates you? Probably a sense of duty. Helping the elderly is the responsibility of young people.

Classmates Andrey Yukhnevich and Timofey Leshkevich have more volunteer experience - a year and a half. Last season, the guys already helped at agricultural fairs, only at another location - at Chizhovka Arena. There were many appeals, so each participant of the action managed to prove himself, Andrei recalls:

- I like helping people. And who if not us? Previously, he helped the elderly with his comrades in the youth union in cleaning the garden plot: it is easy for us, only a couple of hours of work. But for older people who do not have much strength, this is a great help. I also have grandparents. They live in Pervomaisky and Central districts of Minsk. I don't want them to be left without help when they go to the fair.

Andrey Yukhnevich delivered potatoes to pensioner Maria Antonovna Timofey Leshkevich Saturday is scheduled by the hour: after participating in a charity event, he plans to go to a training session on sports and ballroom dancing. Timothy reasoned:

- Volunteering should come from the heart, from the inner understanding that there are people next to us who are weaker than us and need our support. When we are young and have free time, why not help? If it wasn't for the action, I'd just sleep longer, and so, it turns out, I did a good deed. Plus 100 to the compassion of the First for help to the children turned to a resident of Serebryanka, who introduced herself as Inna. She complained that due to back pain, delivering shopping bags to home is still a test. To cope with this task, the pensioner even thought to take the purchases to the storage room of the nearest store and then take them home in several receptions. Volunteers volunteered to escort to the doorstep of the apartment and bring vegetables.

- I don’t know what I would have done without your help. - Thank you for this action and caring young people.

During the republican charity action BRSM "We choose help for the elderly", which takes place all year round, in the autumn, volunteers provide assistance in the delivery of agricultural products to veterans of the Great Patriotic War, disabled people of the I and II groups, lonely elderly people, says the chief specialist of the Lenin district Committee BRSM Nikita Shaikovsky:

The action takes place in Minsk and the regions on weekends during agricultural fairs. In the Leninsky district already formed a team of volunteers for the coming weekend.

Such initiatives foster a sense of compassion and understanding in teenagers that there are people nearby who need help, organizer Yana Shmyrko shares:

- Last year I also participated with volunteers in the event. The schedule is designed so that each school joins a good endeavor. The main criteria by which we select volunteers are desire and personal interest. On the eve of the chat asset BRSM in the messenger posted information and a voter with the question “Who can join?”. There were a lot of people.

The choice of vegetables is huge, prices are affordable Fair in Serebryank gathered farmers and agricultural producers from all over the country: on the shelves a wide range of fruits and vegetables - potatoes and cabbage, beets and carrots, berries, mushrooms, as well as honey. And the prices are more than affordable.

Not only residents of the district come to buy at the fair, but also social workers of the Territorial Social Service Center of the Leninsky District of Minsk. Larisa Pechko and Galina Ignatyuk hold the lists in their hands. They list what you need to buy for their wards - elderly citizens, whom social workers visit at home. Due to age and health problems, they can no longer come to the fair on their own to buy everything they need, explains Larisa Pechko:

- For example, today I have an instruction from my ward Lyudmila Andreevna to buy beans, onions, cabbage, carrots, potatoes. In short, the standard borsch set.

Larisa Pechko approaches the matter as a diligent hostess: she does not buy vegetables from the first seller, but first goes through the ranks to appreciate and understand where you can find a cheaper product. At the same time, the list indicates how much and for what I paid. At 13:00, a car arrives at the fair: volunteers load nets with potatoes and bags of vegetables into it and go to the declared addresses.

derzhanovich@sb.by