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Galina Tkachenko: It is essential to be united to do as much good as possible in this world

23 december 2021

A year ago we initiated a special project, the FGD Digest, whereby every month we, the team of the Formula for Good Deeds program, present to our readers our trusted partner charities operating in the cities where SIBUR is present.

As we approach the New Year' s Eve 2020, we sit down to talk to Galina Tkachenko, Chair of the "Visit" Youth Leisure Center in the city of Svobodny, Amur Oblast, discussing her career, her love for her city, and the good things she has done.

Galina, the name of the city of Svobodny has recently caught everyone's ear in connection with the implementation of a major investment project of by SIBUR in this region. Please tell us: what kind of city is it? Do you like living in it?

The city of Svobodny is my kind of towncity. I lived in Blagoveshensk for a while, attempted to leave elsewhere but I then came back anyway. It is a quiet and tranquil city. People living here are very kind and compassionate. In any city, a lot depends on its residents. It's good to live in a place where you are around people you feel at ease with. At one time, our city was ranked number one among the greenest cities in Russia. Even now, we have quite a lot of green spaces in the city which makes it very cozy. My parents, friends and colleagues live here. I love Svobodny and I will never leave here.is my city.

You have quite a number of different positions and roles. What do you think you are primarily? A public figure? An entrepreneur?

I guess I am first of all a mother and a wife. That's what a woman is meant to be... I had started getting involved in community work earlier than I did getting involved in doing business. I've only owned a business for 6 years, I'm still a "newbie" in these matters. But I've being doing community work for 26 years. I used to work for the City Council of People's Deputies of the second convocation. Now I am Chair of the Commission for the Development of Civil Society and Protection of Civil Rights and Liberties of Amur Oblast’s Civic Chamber, a Public Assistant to Amur Oblast’s Commissioner for Children's Rights, and just recently I became appointed a Public Assistant to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the region. People want to work with me, I also enjoy working with these people, so we get to do our work.

Speaking of your community activism, why are you involved in these activities?

I would venture to say that I was originally motivated by the desire to change our small neighborhood of Surazhevka. I was working as a school teacher at the time, and a deputy principal responsible for educational work at our school, and I felt there was a need to create a center where children would be able to engage in extracurricular activities. So, I set up the Visit Youth Leisure Centre, and I have been running it for 26 years ever since. Initially I had to do a lot of things on my own and get into all the minute subtleties. I received a lot of training in community development and running community development programs, and I supervised whole territories in Khabarovsk Krai and on the Sakhalin Island. Then I realized that my experience can be useful for our city. I wanted to give our citizens an opportunity to fulfill themselves. We gradually began to raise funds for various projects. That is how I got drawn into it all, and now I can no longer imagine my life without community work.

Please tell us about your organization, the Visit Youth Leisure Center. What have you managed to accomplish in the past 26 years?

The center was created to encourage young people to be more active in their communities and to give them opportunities be to express their creativity. Over this period, we have implemented 180 large-scale social projects. We initiated the "Christmas Week of Kindness" and "Clean City" campaigns which have sing since become a tradition for Svobodny. We were the first in the Far East to introduce a program for supporting the nonprofit sector. Now Svobodny boasts its own contest of social projects and other support mechanisms for the city’s activists.

Over these 26 years, we've trained a fair number of young people in our leadership school. The young people who have gone through the center have turned out to be quite successful: in business, in politics, and in other areas. We call them our "visitors", we are proud of them and we keep in touch with them. Six of them have been recipients of Amur Oblast’s Governor's Prize in recognition of their contribution to the development of youth policies; our young representatives have worked in the regional youth parliament. Now our graduates are already beginning to help us. When we were celebrating the Center’s 20th anniversary, something quite interesting happened. A family came to visit us: she had earlier attended the “Visit", and so had he, that’s where they met, and now it is their children’s turn to be cominge to us.

You have been actively involved in promoting the Formula for Good Deeds program among the residents of Svobodny. What projects were most memorable to you, and how do the residents respond to these initiatives?

We still have a lot of work to do in the city in terms of developing our nonprofit sector: we have very few nonprofit organizations and the Formula for Good Deeds is an opportunity to "shake things up", show initiative and get support for one’s projects. We have already stopped accepting applications for the second grant contest in our city and we can say that people have "warmed up to it". Our residents have come to believe in the program, realizing that it is a real opportunity to do something good. This program will definitely take root in Svobodny, where it is very much needed.

If we were to talk about some specific projects, I am glad, for example, to see that biathlon has been getting quite a boost in the Svobodnensky District recently: one enthusiast had been trying to raise funds for it for a long time, and he got the funding thanks to the Formula for Good Deeds. In my native Surazhevka, literally tomorrow there will be an inauguration of a remodeled library which has been simply literally revamped. Thanks to the project, the library has been redesigned and has turned into a wonderful place. There is a shortage of public spaces in such remote neighborhoods, which is why the project is so timely. A children's drama studio opened at the S. ergey Lazo Culture Center. The Formula for Good Deeds’ projects are very much needed and important.

I know that this year you were the principal organizer of the Clean Games in Svobodny? Was that an interesting experience? Are you happy with the outcome of these gamesGames?

It was a huge challenge to figure out the nuances of running the Clean Games properly. We were allowed to pick a site of our own choosing. As we drove around the city we made a discovery that we hardly had any areas where we had to do any cleaning up. The city had become much cleaner. But we did find an area like that in the end.

Everything went great and we were joined by more than 110 participants. EMERCOM helped us to set up a field kitchen, we put on an exciting entertainment program. We found a lot of interesting artefacts; you can look at them on our
social media.

The leaders of the Clean Games movement are still incredulous that we managed to collect 25 tons of waste. But you had to see it to believe it. It took us two days just to remove the throwaway car tires we had found. In total, we spent four days taking the trash out. It gave us a huge energy boost.

I am reminded of an interesting episode that took place back then. One of our activists called in and reported that some business owner was trying to dump a truckful of trash in this area that we were cleaning up. This woman got in the truck’s way and took pictures of everything. We found this businessman and talked to him. They apologized to us and promised us they would never do that again. And local residents set up neighborhood patrols in the area to make sure no trash is dumped there. People grew very enthusiastic about this campaign. Such campaigns are necessary, they bring people together, they create a certain ambience. And you cannot hope to pick up so much trash during a simpleyour regular neighborhood cleanup event. The effect of the Clean Games is much stronger than that of the cleanup day.

This year the "Visit" Youth Leisure Center became a partner of SIBUR's March 8 charity campaign. Could you tell us what the campaign was about and who was it for?

The moment you mentioned this campaign, my heart immediately grew warmer. The campaign's name was "From Heart to Heart". We have wonderful women living in our city: very beautiful, extremely knowledgeable and dedicated mothers of special needs children who devoted their lives to their children. Usually, campaigns like this target directly mothers like these and their children. We did it the other way around. We asked the kids’ dads and other family members to babysit the children. Thanks to our campaign the mothers of these special children had the opportunity to pay some attention to themselves. We arranged a photo-session for them with Andrey Zhadko who is both a photographer and a psychologist: he managed to get them to open up. We gave the moms an opportunity to visit a swimming pool, a wellness club and a gym. We created a special atmosphere at a festive party organized at our banquet hall: we handed out their portraits and put on an entertainment program. The campaign’s final event was a concert held at the local Philharmonic. The mothers later told us that no one had ever done anything of that kind for them and that they would remember this day for the rest of their lives.

In May 2021 the regional department chapter of the National Council on Corporate Volunteering Council was created founded with the participation of SIBUR and the Amur Region Oblast’s Government. You are actively involved in the work activities of this structureorganization. Please dispel the skepticism of people those who consider such organizations "useless and uselessunnecessary."

The theme of corporate volunteering is barely explored in our region. The emphasis is on schoolchildren and students. The regional chapter of NCVC enabled us to unite like-minded people involved in these matters. It turned out that there are corporate volunteering programs implemented by organizations that we previously had not heard of. On the other hand, large companies have whole dedicated programs devoted to promoting volunteering.

We are about to host a youth forum in our city, and we want to dedicate one of its sessions to corporate volunteering and talk about who can do it properly at an enterprise. When individuals join forces and carry out joint campaigns, it produces a greater effect. That is why we need such associations. It is essential to be united in order to do as much good as possible in this world.

 

Since we are talking just before the New Year’s Eve, I can't help but ask you, based on your vast experience and knowledge, how and who needs to be helped most of all at this time, so that these efforts could be put to better use?

This is a time when every child wants something fairy-tale-like and magical to happen. Welfare institutions do a lot to make children's dreams come true. I have always been concerned for children from families in crisis. These children are not orphans or residents of social public welfare establishments, and yet, due to various reasons, their parents can't make a fairy tale happen for them. So, every year we arrange a New Year's party for such children and try to create a proper festive atmoshpereatmosphere for them.

There is another group: lonely elderly people who also long for a proper holiday. We tend to get over-fixated on aiding children at the expense of the elderly. We do have a center named "Lada" that helps the elderly and organizes their pastime, but there are also some senior people who can’t leave their homes. All it takes sometimes is to say a few kind words to these people them and they'll be quite happy.

Finally, we have an opportunity to speak directly to all of the participants in the Formula for Good Deeds program. What would you like to wish your associates and colleagues in the coming year of 2022?

I wish them to keep moving forward and evolving, not to stand still. Sometimes you do need a pause, but you have to keep movinggoing. Without progress there is no development, without development there is no interest, and without interest, life will seem boring. So, keep moving forward, toward new projects and new achievements. And, of course, I wish them to get satisfaction out of what you they do. All those who are engaged in community work are caring people by nature. Together we will change the world, and, despite the fact that life is pretty good as it is, we should always strive for the better:)

In case you missed our past issues:

  • Yana Prikhodko: "It’s an inner calling when values start to resonate within you and compel you to act”.
  • Svetlana Kulakova: " The key thing in conservation projects is to love one’s homeland”.
  • Alla Umetskaya: "The grant contest is an opportunity to try oneself as a miracle worker”
  • Svetlana Grigoriyeva: “The only secret of success is trust”.
  • One good deed is one life saved!
  • More donors mean more lives saved
  • By taking care of our elderly, we are taking care of our future
  • Marina Yefimova: “There are no trouble children, but there are hard life circumstances”.
  • A chance for life for children with cerebral palsy
  • Let's help renovate the Kind House for people with developmental disabilities
  • About SIBUR's Moscow-based employees providing volunteering assistance to the Choose Life Foundation helping children with cancer and hematological diseases