Applications, games and interacting with Dietrich: taking stock of the results of SIBUR volunteers' visit to the Elizavetinsky Children's Hospice

26 march 2024

On Saturday, March 23, SIBUR's corporate volunteers paid yet another visit to the patients of Moscow Oblast’s Elizavetinsky Children's Hospice. The visit was a part of the company-wide From Heart to Heart campaign implemented with the support of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program.

The From Heart to Heart campaign was launched in 2023 at SIBUR's Corporate Center in Moscow at the initiative of Larisa Bondar, Head of Sales Controlling. As part of the campaign, all employees wishing to help children undergoing long-term treatment at medical institutions can take part in collecting needed supplies and toys for the hospice’s treatment rooms and in organizing educational and creative workshops for the little patients.

The program of the March visit was packed with activities. The visiting volunteers offered the children a lot of many exciting activities to get involved in. While some of the employees together with their wards crafted horses from air balloons, others were making applications, playing with kinetic sand and molding clay, and still others handcrafted imitation jewelry using beads. Each child was thus able to pick an activity to his or her liking.

Anna Nikulicheva, Manager, SIBUR:
"While we cannot help these children medicine-wise, we can still bring them joy, get them captivated with some of the things that are a normal every-day occurrence for healthy children but that are a whole unique experience for those staying at the hospice. I noticed so much life, wisdom and joy in the eyes of these children. The feeling that you just made someone happier at least for a minute makes you want to fly and gives you a desire to do as much good as possible."

The visit’s special feature, a pony named Dietrich, became the center of everyone’s attention. Dietrich is not just your regularly pony, he is a real therapist. Together with his owner Anastasia Kozyr, Dietrich visits patients staying at hospices where it interacts with the patients and performs various tricks. The corporate volunteers walked the special therapist through the hospice’s various departments and its rehabilitation center and then took Dietrich to one of the hospice’s recreation areas, where each patient was offered an opportunity to interact with the pony one-on-one. The pony performed several tricks for the charges of the Elizavetinsky Hospice by lying down on command, reenacting "candles" and bows, showing his legs, and generally leaving no child unaffected.

Anastasia Starikova, Expert, SIBUR:
"When I saw the announcement of the upcoming visit to the children's hospice, I immediately recalled that I knew a girl who had been volunteering on her own by showing up at hospices with her therapist pony (yes, a real live pony). I wrote to her to inform her that we were going to a children's hospice with my colleagues, and she immediately included the time of the visit in the "doctor's" schedule. It is impossible not to share miracles with others. I want to make sure that as many people as possible are aware of the therapeutic effect that horses can have on us. People suffering from incurable ailments are in particular need of this energy, this ray of light. Horses are very sensitive to people’s internal state of being. It was hard not to notice how melancholic Dietrich would become when being hugged by very sick children, and how just a couple of minutes later he would light up and get eager to interact with stronger and more active patients. It feels as if all of us volunteers have gone through some kind of therapy by observing these children's emotions. That was priceless."

Everyone is welcome to offer the warmth of their hearts to the charges of the Elizavetinsky Children's Hospice. One can drop off toys or other items needed at the hospice (see the link) in the "Box of Courage" containers that had been set up at Buildings 1 and 3 of the Corporate Center, as well as in the Lotte Business Center on the 3rd floor in the elevator lobby. If you want to help, but lack the time to drop off your gifts in these boxes, you can contribute monetarily to centralized procurements of the necessary supplies by transferring funds to the campaign’s supervisor Larisa Bondar using the following banking card details: 2200 7001 2463 6043 (Tinkoff, Larisa Mikhailovna B.). Make sure you include the note saying "I’m doing good" and your last name at the time of making the transfer.

Yulia Golovay, Head of Department at NIPIGAZ:
"My impressions from the visit are the most positive ones. I am grateful to Larisa for making this trip happen, and I myself was delighted to become a part of the team, to be able to help and support the children's hospice. I was happy to spend some time with these children, play with them, interact with them, listen to them, and just be around them. They are full of life, and this is just wonderful. I hope that we were able to make them happier and entertain them just a little. I would love to join another visit next time!"

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