We start with the closing of the International Volunteer Forum in Sochi. It gathered more than 7,500 participants from all over the world. Today, on Volunteer Day, it was visited by Vladimir Putin. He examined the best charity projects and personally talked to their creators. In addition, he awarded the winner of the "Russian Volunteer" contest and joined the "Wish Tree" event that helps make children's dreams come true.
Yevgeny Reshetnev reports from Sochi about whose wishes will now come true and what initiatives emerged after the President spoke to the volunteers.
The Shayba Arena at Sochi Olympic Park was full. Seven thousand phones were directed at the stage where the Russian President appeared.
Vladimir Putin: "We're living in a period of rapid technological development. It seems that machines can now fully replace humans in everything. And what a notion is now widespread, "artificial intelligence." Yes, it can be even more effective than humans in some way. But it's artificial. It lacks what is inherent in humans. It has no heart, no soul, no compassion. And you, all of us, have it".
They have a strong desire to help those who can't do without help. Volunteers made numerous requests at the meeting with the president.
Representatives of the largest search-and-rescue organization, "Liza Alert", addressed him with their acute problem. Sometimes it happens that the person is already in the hospital while the search operation in the woods continues on.
“We really need an all-Russian database of unknown patients that's connected to all hospitals, all police departments, and it would be great if relevant volunteers also had access to it.”
Vladimir Putin: "It's the right proposition, I'll definitely suggest it".
A big stand at the volunteer forum is dedicated to a totally new project of All-Russia People's Front. This social project was born after the latest Direct Line with the president. It's understandable that a large number of messages about problems are left off-air. This time it's almost 1.2 million. The regions where most of the letters and calls came from are marked in red. I have to say that the Krasnodar Krai where we are now is one of those regions. A special internet site shows how many appeals have been processed, who's gotten help, and who's responsible for solving the problem. In five pilot regions, a special application will launch soon where people will write about their troubles directly.
Vladimir Putin: Direct Line. Episode two.
- Episode two, yes.
Nevertheless, they decided to call it "Direct Line. The Continuing".
Yelena Shmeleva, education fund director: "We now have a unique tool that connects problems, experts, regions, and, most importantly, the monitoring of solutions".
More than a hundred operators at the Moscow Region call center handle appeals from people. They're different. For example, a children's hospice in Krasnodar is low on care products. Some have personal requests.
"A 96-year-old man that lives in Yeisk and fought in the Great Patriotic War wants to attend the Victory Parade very much".
Vladimir Putin: "Tell him that I'm personally inviting him. We'll find him a good, honorary place so that he can sit comfortably and see everything. And we'll transfer him to Moscow and back".
Volunteer movement is not only young burning eyes. Turns out, there is a big family of the so-called silver volunteers. Leader of "Grannies for an Hour", one of the volunteer groups, took a long time to tell the president about how they teach children in Volgograd to cook, to knit.
- I need…
Vladimir Putin: What? What do you want us to do?
- I need to appeal to the Ministry of Labor with our association, so that we, physical grannies and granddads, could write our projects as physical bodies, not only as NPOs.
On New Year's Eve, children's wishes must come true. Today, the President joined the all-Russian volunteer event, "Wish Tree".
- The blue ones are more difficult
Vladimir Putin: “I'll take this one. "To go to Krasnaya Polyana. You call it difficult? It's easy".
Thousands of Russian children, as a tradition, will soon go to the New Year party at the Kremlin. Two girls from Buryatia, 4 and 8 years old, drew their own winning ticket today.
Vladimir Putin: I invite you, together. Who do you have? Boys? Girls?
- Girls.
- Two girls?
- Yes.
- Adorable.
At Olympic Park, where thousands of volunteers from all over Russia gathered these days, an education center "Sirius" operates on a full-time basis. At the moment, a Russian-Indian youth project is being realized there. For example, this robot monitors the ecosystem of tea plantations. An Indian student told the President about a project of an ecologically safe source of nuclear energy.
Vladimir Putin: If you like it, and other Indian kids like you, I think that'll be one of the serious courses in our cooperation.
- We'd love to cooperate, that's the best thing that can happen to us.
- We'll do it.
Twenty-five Indian teenagers came to Russia to carry out their innovative developments. The main prize of the volunteering contest was won by Inessa Klyukina from Kazan, who's going to expand the inclusive community in Tatarstan using this grant.
Vladimir Putin: "Now there are more than 15 million volunteers in our country. It's a giant army. I'd like to inform you that it was decided to double the grant for the support of the "Russian Volunteer" contest".
Yevgeny Reshetnev, Nikolai Zakharov, Anton Kasimovich, and Kirill Aksenov, Vesti, Olympic Park, Sochi.
