Center for Humanitarian Aid

The center began working in 1996 when a small group of volunteers from St. Catherine's Orthodox Church (U.S.) united to feed Moscow's homeless. Daniel Ogan of the U.S. and Alexander Kozhamyakin of Russia founded the center in order to revive the spirit of charity that characterized the pre-revolutionary Russian Orthodox Church. The two worked out of the Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church to cook food, store clothes, and serve meals two days a week to the homeless, pensioners, ex-convicts, and street children near Kazan Railway Station in Moscow.

The center currently operates six days per week, feeding up to 150 people daily. Volunteers and staff also distribute clothes and other items donated by foreign and Russian organizations and individuals. The center offers advice to the homeless on how to obtain personal documents and legal registration. In 1998, it founded a "homeless" newspaper, Yest Vykhod, to inform the public of the plight of Moscow's needy. Dozens of homeless people now earn money selling the newspaper.

Last updated:    February 1999

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