Page 79 - Book about Friendship and Future.Stories of Volunteers.

Irina Kirichenko

Area Coach
Planinvest project LLC, Moscow

In November 2016 the “YUM!” corporation announced the
start of a New Year Marathon of good deeds named “Believing in
Miracles – Creating Miracles!” This was a volunteer quest during
which the teams were to fulfill various tasks getting the scores.
The contest took place between two big teams – the corporate
restaurants and the franchise partners’ restaurants. Being an ex-
perienced volunteer and a responsible leader, I was proposed to
lead ‘the franchise team’ and become an interface for all volun-
teers. I approached the project with full responsibility: I created
a group in WhatsApp, signed in on the sites where the volun-
teers’ aid was required, searched for tasks, fulfilling them myself
and delegating them to the team, and sent out the reports on
the volunteers’ activities as well as the pictures from the events.
The motivation of participants is very important in such cases!
Volunteer is an unselfish person! He/she provides help with the
TIME! And now this is the most valuable item, I would say. My
team is comprised of very sympathetic and dedicated guys, who
were ready to do everything just for a THANK YOU. I am so proud
of them.
Here is one of the most memorable projects. We have almost
‘fully reconstructed’ a summer house for Elena, a lady who spent
winter in it taking care of 10 homeless dogs. She is a well-edu-
cated lady, who remained jobless after the economic downturn.
And since she moved to Russia from the Ukraine and failed to
get a residence permit, she lost her pension grant. We calcu-
lated the type and amount of insulating and other materials re-
quired, found the suppliers’ contacts, bought the stuff and made
the house habitable on our own. In the course of this Marathon
we have completed more than 25 tasks. And as a result, both
our teams got the first prize. We got granted a certificate for
40,000 Rubles, which we spent on the animals’ aid. The Marathon
finished and our WhatsApp group remains active – we continue
greeting each other on holidays and other remarkable dates.