2 June 2022
On the Children’s Day in the Ryazan Region, an opening ceremony of the Polyany Multifunctional Centre for Families With Adopted Children took place. The Centre was built by Stroytransgaz Group.
The opening ceremony was attended by the founder of the charitable foundation, with whose support the Centre was built – Elena Timchenko, as well as Pavel Malkov, Acting Governor of the Ryazan Region, Tatyana Panfilova, Chairman of the Ryazan City Duma, and Metropolitan Mark of Ryazan and Mikhailov. All guests were welcomed by the new building, which has a modern architectural design, combining geometric shapes with natural motifs and remarkable accents.
The Centre for Family and Childhood was built in the village of Polyany not by chance. It is in this village that the town for foster families “Klyuch” is located, built by the charitable foundation of Elena and Gennady Timchenko with the assistance of the Government of the Ryazan Region. The town consists of 8 cottages for 16 families, 162 children have already found home there and 30 have become graduates and created their own families.
“The most important thing that every country has is its children. By educating our children, we educate our future history. We do everything to justify the trust. So that children grow up in an atmosphere of beauty and love,” said Elena Timchenko. She also spoke about the history of the town project, a worthy continuation of which the new multifunctional centre in Polyany has become.
The idea of building a new complex appeared in 2017. Experts, philanthropists, parents and children took part in the discussion, and everyone expressed a lot of thoughts about what its content should be like. Much of what was supported by the majority has been implemented.
Stroytransgaz Group has performed the construction of the Centre building with a total area of 1,860 sq.m. Creating the Facility in cooperation with Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation, Stroytransgaz Group relied on the global experience gained over the past decades. Such Barnahus** (Home for Children) centres were first created in 1998 in Iceland and then spread to other northern countries (Sweden in 2005, Norway in 2007, Greenland in 2011, Denmark in 2013).
*Barnahus was designed to create a specific legal framework to meet special needs of children who are suspected of being abused.
“Our common task is to protect the younger generation, protect the rights and interests of children. Impressions from the centre are the most incredible. This is a centre of best practices. They are not just copied and implemented here, they are born here in many ways. It is important to spread these practices to other educational institutions in this region. We count on the help of philanthropists and on the help of the foundation,” said Pavel Malkov, Acting Governor of the Ryazan Region.
Thanks to the opening of the Centre, a modern public space will appear in the village, which will become a real home of hospitality. Huge windows and a glass roof fill the building with air and sunlight. The compositional consolidating centre of the building is a two-light space with a multi-level amphitheater with multiple game and educational elements and a large screen.
Metropolitan Mark of Ryazan and Mikhailov congratulated the team of employees and families on the Centre opening: “Without the sun, flowers do not grow, without it there is no life, but children also have their own sun, they cannot live not only without the physical sun, but also another sun – love. It warms, illuminates, and shows children an example of how to live. People give an example, and this is the most valuable thing in life,” the Metropolitan emphasized. He expressed his deep gratitude to everyone who took part in the construction of the Centre for Family and Childhood, who made efforts to ensure that the project came to life.
There is an oval reception space, a multi-purpose hall for conferences, concerts and other entertainment events, as well as premises for the family club and extracurricular classes. The Centre has a barrier-free environment ready to welcome children with any disabilities. There is a lift for children in wheelchairs allowing to get to the second floor.
On the second floor, there is a space for individual sessions with psychologists, speech therapists and special education teachers, halls for group music, choreography and ballet classes and a maintenance unit. There are also premises for social and psychological support of minors during criminal proceedings. A separate entrance is arranges to access these premises. These are rooms for investigators (a green room with a two-way** mirror) and subsequent rehabilitation of children and their relatives involving an expert psychologist.
** The two-way mirror is called a “spy”. It is a semitransparent glass transmitting light only in one direction. It allows for covert observation in the room while remaining invisible to the person looking from the other side of the glass, who, in turn, will see only his/her own reflection.
“This centre is very important for families, we have been waiting for it for a long time. This is an all-Russian project; there is no such project anywhere in Russia yet. We hope it will be very cool here soon. Already now, there is a lot of everything – a theatre, vocals, speech therapists, defectologists, psychological group, and individual classes. Every child can find something for themselves. A very cool team of like-minded people works here, people who are passionate about this place. They themselves have many children, they perfectly understand what parents and children need, how to organize this interaction. We really hope that the Centre will become famous throughout Russia. It will be developed by attracting benefactors and grants,” said Marina Preobrazhenskaya, a resident of Klyuch village.
External improvement and landscaping of the area is worth noting as well. The paving of pedestrian areas is made of hard burnt brick for sidewalks. It perfectly matches the colourways of architectural solutions of the Centre. There is a three-level outdoor amphitheatre on the square in front of the main entrance, where it is planned to hold open-air ceremonies in the future. Large trees have been planted, lawns have been made, a tiered planting of green spaces (shrubs and perennial plants) is provided.
The centre is aimed at developing the institution of a foster family, preventing social orphanhood, providing crisis assistance, additional education, and developing a school for foster parents.
Stroytransgaz Group will own copyright for the unique project of the Center, which may be implemented in other constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the future.
Photos are sourced from the “Publishing House “Press” and “MEDIARYAZAN” website.