(KZN.RU, April 13, Alsu Safina). Today Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, met with representatives of 21 charitable organizations in the City Hall. Leila Fazleeva, an assistant to the President of the RT, Damir Fattakhov, the first deputy head of the Kazan Executive Committee, and heads of districts’ administrations took part in the roundtable.
Opening the meeting, the Mayor congratulated all those who gathered on the Day of the Benefactor, which is celebrated today. “You voluntarily loaded an incredibly heavy burden on your shoulders: to pull out of the abyss, to bring back to life, to give hope to those who have almost lost it”, said I. Metshin. “Not everyone's capable of doing it. This is an example of true asceticism. I very much hope that it will be contagious for the Kazan citizens, who are still acquainting closely to the project “Good Kazan”.
Ilsur Metshin reminded that for the first time such a roundtable discussion on the development of charity in the city was held a year ago. The plans and ideas, made during the conversation, formed the basis of the city project “Good Kazan”, and some of them have already been implemented today.
“Our joint work to develop charity is very important for Kazan and the republic”, marked the Mayor. Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT, noted the importance of this direction at the reporting session of the Kazan City Duma as well. “He heard us and promised to support this work. Thanks to this, I am confident that together we will be able to do even more good deeds”, I. said Metshin.
Damir Fattakhov, the first deputy head of the Executive Committee, spoke about the first results of the work that was carried out in Kazan last year for the development of charity. He noted that the projects “Diary of Good Deeds” and “Zhyzaleub” were launched, and traditional school charity fairs were held. In addition, the I Open Forum “Good Kazan: Development of the Charity Culture” was held in Kazan at the end of the year. The decision is made to make the forum annual. This year's event will be devoted to the most successful regional charity development cases.
The cooperation with the federal service of Dobro Mail.Ru began in September. Damir Fattakhov said that for today 8 Kazan funds have already passed a multi-stage check, 6 more funds are at different stages of verification. For the first quarter of this year, almost 1 million rubles was collected with the help of the service for Kazan projects.
D. Fattakhov also noted that by the results of March, the capital of Tatarstan took the second place in the rating of the kindest cities of Russia within the framework of the all-Russian environmental campaign “Marathon of good deeds”. The contest in the format of the All-Russian campaign is held by the Public Chamber of Russia. “This, of course, is flattering, but the main rating is the number of those who need, covered by our attention, good deeds, and actions”, commented Ilsur Metshin.
During the roundtable, the first deputy head of the Executive Committee said that a single city Internet site was created: the official site of the project “Good Kazan” dobro.kzn.ru. The site, operating on the principle of a single window, should become an entry point for those who want to help, and for those who need help themselves. “Here, the most relevant materials about the project “Good Kazan” will be presented, in addition to information about the funds and their projects, as well as a single city calendar of charitable events and, so-called, a good map of objects, somehow involved in the project “Good Kazan”, explained Damir Fattakhov, adding that the first basic version of the site is already available for users but it will be further developed taking into account comments and suggestions.
On April 21, an educational project will be launched for funds, where specialists in such areas as fundraising, marketing, PR, SMM-support, law, accounting, etc., will share their knowledge and experience with representatives of charitable organizations.
Speaking about the cooperation with business, the first deputy head of the Executive Committee noted that there are first results in this direction. In particular, on the initiative of the national halal fast food network “Tyubetei”, the so-called “Good Lunch” appeared in their assortment, 10% of the proceeds from which the company will send to charity projects through the service Dobro Mail.Ru.
Damir Fattakhov said that the English teacher, an Englishman who has lived in Kazan for several years, also appealed to them and said that he wants to send part of his earnings to charity through Dobro Mail.Ru. “This is the case when a good example is contagious”, said D. Fattakhov.
As for interaction with charitable funds, D. Fattakhov noted that one of such examples is the fund “Day of good deeds”. The network of acceptance points of things and the central charitable warehouse, for which the Executive Committee has allocated premises, is being created in Kazan now. Rustem Khasanov, the director of the charity fund “Day of Good Deeds”, thanked for the support of the city authorities. In the course of his speech, he raised the issue of checking charitable funds and the need to develop strict rules for cooperation with charitable foundations within the framework of the “Good Kazan” in order to exclude all possibilities for theft of funds and abuse at the initial stage.
Mars Khaliyev, the head of the charity fund “Light of Life”, told at the meeting with the Mayor of Kazan about the creation of a crisis center for the social adaptation of homeless people, caught up in a difficult life situation. He noted that the fund has been engaged in this activity since 2012, and all this time, it was necessary to rent apartments and houses of private owners to help those in need. But according to the decision of Mayor of Kazan, the fund was given a premise. “Now we are at the stage of signing a contract of renting a former kindergarten in the Krutushka village”, said Mars Khaliyev. “We have a building but it is not suitable for living”. The fund manager asked for support in this matter. Ilsur Metshin noted that it is necessary to visit the place in order to have a full idea and to identify ways of solving the problem.
Azat Gainutdinov, the general director of the Rehabilitation and Adaptation Center, addressed the Mayor with the problem of the lack of accommodation for the hostel. Since 2005, the organization has been engaged in the rehabilitation of convicts. According to A. Gaynutdinov, every year 1,400 citizens are released in the city, and this figure reaches 5 thousand in the republic. Therefore it is important to engage in their adaptation and employment. “Our results are only 3% relapse, while in the republic it is up to 65%”, said the head of the center. During the conversation, the Mayor of the city instructed the heads of districts’ administrations to work out the issue of involving the center's wards in the work within the sanitary-ecological two-month period.
Ruslan Shekurov, the project manager of the project “Donor Search”, spoke about the formation of the resource center on the basis of the project “Good Kazan”, including the formation of a pool of specialists to participate in charitable funds’ activities.
Alsu Zabbarova, coordinator of the charitable public organization “Mothers of Kazan”, drew attention to the need to create sports and gaming inclusive sites in the parks of Kazan. She said that Kamil Samigullin, the mufti of Tatarstan, and Natalia Fishman, an assistant to the President of the RT, discussed this issue a few weeks ago at the meeting. According to A. Zabbarova, people with a disability conduct a closed way of life. They have no place where they could rest. Such sites would allow them to socialize and lead an active lifestyle. At the same time, an important aspect is that people with disabilities use these sites and are not afraid to come there. To remove all barriers, it is planned to hold an event for their involvement in the city in the summer, said the coordinator.
Adelina Mingazova, the chairman of the charitable public organization “For Children”, thanked the Mayor of Kazan and the Executive Committee for the support of athletes with disabilities who will go to the equestrian sports competitions in Novo-Cheboksarsk in a week.
“The road is difficult. Working with people is not easy but it is many times more difficult with those who knock at your door”, Ilsur Metshin said at the end of the meeting. “We are at the beginning of the road, but we do not start from an empty spot”. He noted that the tradition of patronage in Russia has deep roots. “I want us to implement step by step an important matter, to which each of you has devoted yourself and your life. We are glad that there are such people in our city. This is the greatest happiness and wealth”, noted the Mayor.
The Mayor drew attention to the fact that there are many questions and problems and there is no single solution for all. The head of the city expressed hope for productive cooperation.