Socks
For Siberia
Socks for
Siberia, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) Non Profit Organization to benefit children who
live in the orphanages in the region of Khakassia, Siberia
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How It All Began
n 1989, Wally Connor
traveled to the town of Abakan in the Khakassia region of south central Siberia
with a group of students from Valley View School
in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Russia was still under Soviet control at
that time and t
n 1996, after Sergei
had completed a Bachelor’s degree in Abakan, he returned to the United States to
attain a Master’s degree in teaching English as a Second Language at UMASS in
Boston. After attempting to live in the city of Boston, but with no
work visa, the decision was made for Sergei to live with the Connor family
during his two years of study, commuting to Boston by bus two days a week for
classes. He performed odd jobs for spending and saving money and was a
tremendous help to the Connors on their small farm, pitching in like a member of
the family. Sergei’s girlfriend
~Sergei
and Wally share one last Whopper before heading home to Russia
ergei’s family was
very appreciative of the help given to him by the Connor family over his two
years in graduate school, and invited them to return with him and spend some
time ~Sergei and Tatiana are reunited – sister Jenya looks on
n the day before they were to leave for Moscow and return to the United States, Michele and Wally took a walk with their friend Natasha to the store. While on this walk, they passed by a large building with a bare, dusty, fenced in yard in which some children were playing a game kicking rocks and sticks to each other. There were a dozen or so children in the yard, not very well dressed. Michele noticed these children and asked what the place was. Natasha explained that it was a “Dyetski Dom” or children’s home called “Yoletchka,” what we would call an orphanage in the United States. The children lived here for various reasons; some were truly orphaned with parents dead from alcoholism, AIDS or tuberculosis. Others were “social orphans,” victims of the difficult economic situation in Russia after the fall of communism. Russia had no social programs to help families stay together, such as food stamps, welfare, or Aid For Dependent Children as we do in the US. Many parents are faced with the choice to hand their children over to the “Dyetski Dom,” or watch them suffer from hunger. Many children in these homes have siblings who still are at home with the family, while they have been sent away for economic reasons.
he next day’s plane
ride from
Moscow to New
York was a long, emotional one. It was a “Baby Flight” with 12 Russian babies
from the Moscow area traveling home to the United States
with their new families. Michele cried quietly most of the 8 hour flight,
grateful for the good fortune of these babies on the airplane, but sadly
thinking of the children so far away in Abakan, who would only know the staff of
the childre
n November 1999, four boxes were shipped to Abakan in time to make Christmas a little more special for the children. With the help of children at St. Mary’s and the Brookfield Congregational Church, the Girl Scouts sewed small felt stockings which were filled with small toys, pencils, toothbrushes and toothpaste, crayons and hair ties. Candy canes adorned each one of the ninety stockings which were packed with care into four large boxes and taken to mail. Many questioned whether the packages would ever make it, but Michele prayed over them all the way to the Brookfield Post Office, trusting that they would find their way to where they were needed most.
ll four boxes did indeed arrive in Abakan, having been sent to Natasha Glukhova, who lives close to the children’s home, so that she could translate the best wishes sent by the children in Brookfield. Natasha, Sergei and his sister Jenya enjoyed the feeling of giving these gifts to their neighbors in need and took pictures of their visit with the children of Yoletchka and the younger children of the Malutka Maternity Hospital as they received their gifts. They sent these pictures back to share with the gracious people here in the US, that they might be a secondhand witness to the joy brought by four boxes of Christmas stockings.
n 2001, as they prepared for their next trip to Russia, the Connor’s again enlisted the help of their friends and neighbors to kick off the “Socks For Siberia” project which gave rise to the name of this organization. Second hand clothes and shoes are one thing, but the Connors wanted to provide the children with brand new undergarments. Over 600 pairs of socks, 450 pairs of underpants, 240 T-shirts and 55 pairs of pajamas were collected and boxed by the Brookfield Girl Scouts for shipment to the children in Abakan.
ince those first
efforts, many Christmases have been brightened for the children of Yoletchka and
Malutka by people they may never meet, but who have answered the call to help.
The Connors make bi-annual visits with the children,
bringing funds raised by their friends and neighbors and purchasing whatever was
needed at the time, making no demands or conditions, simply performing an act of
kindness. They have come to be called by the children “Dyeda Wally” and “Baba
Michele” for Grandfather and Grandmother. Now, in the season of Easter, as they
prepare for their fourth visit to the
Thank you for your interest and your support of these beautiful children! |
his
group was the first of its kind to visit the region. The translator for the
group during their stay in Abakan was a woman named Natasha Glukhova who had a
16 year old son named Sergei. Her son was excited to spend time with these
foreign boys close to his age and Sergei was later part of a group of Russian
boys and adults who were invited to come to North Brookfield as an exchange
visit. Sergei Glukhov stayed with the Connor family for the three week visit
along with another boy, Kostya Zakhvator. The Connors fell in love with the
enthusiastic young Sergei during their three week visit, and remained in contact
with him and his family after his return to Siberia. 
