Photo by the press service of PJSC Aeroflot.
In the Oryol region, on the banks of the Oka River, there is the recreation center “Lesnaya Polyana”. During the last August shift of the summer season, pupils of the Lutuginsky correctional boarding school, located in the Luhansk People’s Republic, came to rest here.
Photo by the press service of PJSC Aeroflot.
The school was hit hard during the events of 2014. Militants from the Aidar battalion (recognised as extremist and banned in Russia) entered Lutugino. The school was shelled to such an extent that one wing of the building was on the verge of collapsing. Later, graduates and teachers of the boarding school joined the ranks of the militia. The building was largely restored by volunteers and teachers. About fifty orphans aged between 5 and 16 live there permanently.
Photo by the press service of PJSC Aeroflot.
In Lesnaya Polyana, the children were warmly welcomed by the Russian Central Institute of Management (RANEPA branch), which owns the base. This is not the first time that the university has welcomed students from new regions on vacation. Last year, 300 children from the DPR and LPR visited here. And this visit was made possible thanks to the university’s partnership with Aeroflot. It is important to note that the pupils of the Lutuginsk school as a whole never left the walls of the boarding school.
There is a railway near the camp. On the first night, hearing the sound of a speeding train, some of the boys woke up and began preparing for evacuation, a sad habit brought on by living in a bombing zone.
Photo by the press service of PJSC Aeroflot.
On the eve of the Air Fleet Day, a delegation from Aeroflot arrived in the Orel region. Together with its partner, the Russian Society “Znanie”, the team prepared an educational and entertainment program for children. We went on a quest, made kites, painted faces and figures with inflatable balloons. Current flight attendants talked about their work in the sky.
— Among the boys, our flight attendants noticed 16-year-old Lesha. He is a fit and athletic boy. He said that he runs regularly and is interested in acrobatics. He organized an impromptu competition with our volunteers: he invited them to do push-ups in a race. The boy also loves to dance and is especially happy to hear modern music in the camp, because although the radio is playing in the boarding school, old songs are played from there,” the Aeroflot delegation shared with touching details.
At the end of the holiday, all the children received gifts. And the children from Lutugino handed the guests a box with letters addressed to the airline’s employees and passengers.
— This year, Aeroflot has expanded the scope of social and charitable programs to support children, including caring for the new little ones from Lutugino. The most important thing we can do for them is to help them believe in the future and see that they now live in a huge country where the culture of family, love and protection of children is manifested both at the state level and in the caring attitude of the adults around them. The Aeroflot team is big-hearted. Therefore, these initiatives, and the company is actively implementing other social support projects, receive an unconditional response from both the management and volunteers participating in the events,” said Olesya Vladimirova, Director of the PR Department of Aeroflot PJSC.
— “Together with Aeroflot, we gave the children of the Lutuginsky correctional boarding school not just a day, but a real holiday, which became the embodiment of our mission: to bring knowledge, delight hearts and inspire achievements. We saw sincere admiration and genuine joy in the eyes of the children when they immersed themselves in an atmosphere of kindness and care, but most importantly, we saw in their eyes the hope that we gave them,” said Irina Karikh, Deputy General Director of the Russian Society Znanie.
Photo by the press service of PJSC Aeroflot.
This summer, the airline sponsored the boarding school in Lutugin. In June, the airline team came here to meet the students and staff. They handed out bicycles, skateboards, roller skates, balls, rackets – everything that could be useful for children to engage in active outdoor activities.
A box of postcards signed by passengers of the Aeroflot charity flight SU1040 on the Moscow-Sochi route, which took place on June 1, was also delivered to the school. The proceeds from the sale of airline tickets were used to organize summer vacations for children from the LPR.
