MINSK, 16 January (BelTA) – The amount of donations raised during the Our Children charity campaign exceeded last year's amount by Br300,000, Elena Simakova who is in charge of the education work and youth policy at the Education Ministry, told reporters on 15 January, BelTA has learned.
“The donations raised for orphanages, healthcare facilities and social care institutions during the Our Children campaign exceeds Br1.5 million, up nearly Br300,000 over last year. This is current statistics, the final amount will be known later,” Elena Simakova said.
She noted that representatives of 91 organizations visited 122 facilities, including boarding schools, orphanages, foster families, children's hospitals, children's shelters, correctional institutions. Over 15,000 children were involved in the charity campaign at the national level. “The charity campaign was held on a much bigger scale in the regions. Taking part in it were over 550,000 children from the regions,” she noted.
“Over the past ten years, the number of orphanages has halved, while the number of children there has shrank by 70%. Consequently, the number of children in foster families has nearly doubled,” she informed.
It is noteworthy that the charity campaign was meant not only for children in need, but also for young hopefuls Belarus is proud of – brilliant school and university students. They were invited to attend the ball in the Palace of Independence, Elena Simakova said.
The Our Children charity campaign kicked off in Belarus on 10 December 2018 to wrap up on 11 January 2019. Heads of government bodies and company chiefs, leaders of public associations visited children's facilities to offer various gifts.
