More than 19,000 needy Muscovites to receive Pascha gifts

Moscow, April 13, 2017

During Bright Week, from April 17 to 22, more than 19,000 needy Muscovites will receive Pascha gifts, as part of the “The Gift of Joy on Pascha” charity event, reports the online journal Foma. The campaign to collect gifts took place in Moscow and across the country throughout Great Lent, under the direction of the Orthodox service “Mercy.”

Over 19,000 gifts were collected for Moscow’s lonely and elderly, disabled, orphans, large and low-income families, homeless, and hospital patients according to the organizations’ press service. All of the gifts will be distributed during Bright Week, when the joy of Pascha is still in the air.

“Christ’s Pascha is the main feast, for which Christians prepare themselves for all of Great Lent. Every Christian, of course, strives to meet Pascha in church, but during Bright Week we must try to meet not only with friends and family, but to devote time to good words, sharing the joy of Pascha with those who are in trouble,” said the head of the Synodal charitable department Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevo.

Also during Bright Week, workers of the “Helper and Protector” charitable foundation and Orthodox volunteers will greet Moscow’s homeless with the joy of Pascha, handing out more than 2,200 gifts including food, sweets, and hygiene products.

The “Mercy” Orthodox service is one of Russia’s largest charitable organizations, enveloping twenty-six programs of aid to the needy. Tens of thousands of people receive aid from the foundation every year, with 80% of the aid coming from donations.