Page 18 - Book about Friendship and Future.Stories of Volunteers.

Evgeniy Shironin

Regional Leader of the Charity Program “Generation Choice”
KFC Corporate Charity Fund “Opening Horizons”, Krasnoyarsk

How I Helped Nikita

We met with Nikita 6 years ago when I was a Deputy Direc-
tor in a KFC restaurant and he was a lonely third-grader from an
orphanage. We came to play football to the orphanage and this
smart kid was very persistent in asking for a ball, a bag, sneakers,
some water, snacks, sweets, and an internship. Now I know what
a smart help looks like, and six years ago I responded to such
“emotional blackmailing”: Nikita got a new bag, some sports
ware, and a visit to a skating rink. The bag got stolen, the ball
was not used, and it hurt while skating.
Two years later, when Nikita grew older and I got some ex-
perience in volunteering, I helped him to get ready for a national
contest in financial fundamentals arranged by KFC across Russia.
First Nikita wrote a naïve essay “How I will spend my first sal-
ary” in which he promised to repay the kindness of many people
he knew, from his group leader to the city mayor. I had to ex-
plain to him how the first salary looked like. The zeal smoothed
down a little and the essay was rewritten. Fewer people were to
receive his gratitude but the list became more elaborated. The
jury acknowledged the essay best in town and Nikita was praised
with a flight to Moscow to represent Krasnoyarsk. This was great!
After the 9th grade Nikita got enrolled into the painters’ col-
lege and moved to the dormitory. This was not his decision,
and he spoke with sadness that he had dreamt about the job of
a scenario-writer – to write poems, texts, scenarios – and found
himself among the repair-men. I was explaining to him about dif-
ferent ways to pursue one’s goals and the responsibility for one’s
own life. These conversations may have impacted him somehow.
He demonstrates good academic performance, works part-time,
reasonably manages his salary, learnt to save money. He is reli-
able and is never late for work. Recently he received a job offer
from the competitors, which he has been considering, since the
terms of employment are better. He is the one to decide. I hope
he will make this decision himself.