Bring hope to those who need it most. A cleaning lady from Chelyabinsk has opened a shelter for homeless people with disabilities. Valentina Gulitsina proved that in order to help, millions are not needed, faith and desire are enough, the correspondent of the MIR 24 TV channel Anna Derkach reports.
In a tiny dorm room everyone gathered at once: the owner Valentina, grandfather Anatoly, and even the cat Vasily. Everyone wants to contribute to the decoration of the Christmas tree. Indeed, for the guests of this shelter, now former homeless people, the New Year is a particularly warm holiday.
“This is my second home, the same family, therefore, as is customary in the family to celebrate the New Year, to put up a Christmas tree,” said Valentina Gulitsina.
She became one family with the homeless as a child, when she herself was homeless. At the age of eight, Valentina ran away from her alcoholic parents for the first time. The homeless people at the entrance were then fed and given warm clothes. “As a child, I didn't even celebrate my birthday. Didn't give anything. There was no money all the time. Yes, and the stepfather was such that he constantly scoffed, beat him, beat his kidneys. In winter, when the homeless were rescued - the brightest moment, that's why I study, I help,”Valentina explained.
Then Valentina promised that she would grow up, get rich and help the homeless. It didn't work out to get rich. But she did not abandon her goal. First, she sheltered a blind grandfather Anatoly, whom she met at the entrance. And then she opened a shelter. With maternity capital I bought a room in a hostel, and rented two more. At the same time, Valentina herself lives in a rented apartment with her husband and two children and works as a cleaner for a salary of 12 thousand rubles.
“She cannot see people lying on the street. Here he is helpless - what will he do? Will do nothing. It's just a pity. They are the same people,”says Valery Malkov, a resident of the shelter.
Valentina helps only homeless people with disabilities. Those who cannot provide for themselves. Valery Malkov became this 10 years ago. First, on an unsuccessful deal, he lost his apartment, and then his leg. He wandered through hospitals and state orphanages until he got to Valentina. “They only give food once a day. You can only live there for a month for free. You are given a month to get a job. It's at home here. I wanted to, I went to eat, I wanted to have some tea,”Valery appreciated the advantages of the new shelter.
"Here we have a farm - chickens, geese, our goat."
Local residents help the shelter with food and clothing. Sometimes money is also transferred. On them, the guests acquired a household and a bathhouse.
“Someone for 50 rubles, some for 1000, some for 2000, helped. Thanks to this we have a bathhouse. We used to have a summer shower to wash ourselves. Either the residents came to me to wash. True, my husband's eye twitched every time,”says Valentina.
Valentina herself has neither aversion nor disgust for the homeless. Only sympathy and a desire to help. She helps the wards to restore documents and health. On the orphanage's birthday, I arranged a real party at a local restaurant, where I invited the city residents.
“Communication for such people is very important, not even gifts, or something else. They should feel at the level of ordinary people, and not like outcasts,”Valentina is sure.
There are five people living in the orphanage now. Valya hopes for the support of the same caring citizens and the New Year's miracle. The five people she saved already believe in him.