The project “Resource Center ‘Mercy Volga Region’: a system of church support for veterans and their families” has been launched. The initiative, supported by the Presidential Grants Foundation, is being implemented by the Kazan Eparchy service “Mercy — Kazan,” with the participation of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry.

On the day the project began, an online meeting was held with representatives of the social departments of the eparchies of the Volga Federal District. The meeting was opened by Priest Evgeny Lishchenyuk, head of the Synodal Department’s area of support for SMO veterans and their families.

Olga Varganova, head of the “Mercy — Kazan” service, presented the main areas of work. The expert spoke about key activities, including training programs for clergy, church specialists, and volunteers of the eparchies in the Volga Federal District, as well as the provision of comprehensive assistance to veterans of the special military operation and their families.

“The social significance of the project lies in developing a resource platform of the Russian Orthodox Church that brings together the efforts of 47 eparchies of the Volga Federal District in cooperation with state and public organizations. Our joint efforts are aimed at supporting the defenders of the Fatherland, strengthening the family, and educating the younger generation in a spirit of loyalty, gratitude, and service to the Motherland,” the head of the eparchial assistance service said.

As the new project is implemented, the beneficiaries will include clergy and their assistants responsible for work with SMO participants, servicemen and members of their families, as well as children, teenagers, and young people. For them, training sessions, educational meetings, thematic forums, and master classes are planned. Olga Varganova shared plans for the coming year: “We will train priests and social workers in specific algorithms: how to speak with a veteran, how not to harm him, how to distinguish PTSD from the sin of despondency. We plan to collect the best practices of the eparchies of the Volga Federal District and, on that basis, prepare effective methodological materials. In addition, we will organize trips to the regions for hands-on assistance, and we will also provide case management for complex situations. If a parish in Saratov or Udmurtia faces an issue that cannot be resolved by the efforts of a single eparchy, we will bring in the center’s resources.”

An important part of the project will be the School of Mercy in parishes, aimed at the spiritual and moral development of young people and the cultivation of skills for supporting those in need. Off-site expeditions for children, involving SMO veterans, are planned and will focus on moral and patriotic education.

Before the project’s launch, an off-site meeting of the initiative group members took place at the Volga Eparchy. Olga Varganova and Dmitry Gainullin, head of the eparchial project “ZOV — Prichal,” met with priests who are involved in assisting servicemen and their families.

The “Mercy — Kazan” service’s project grew out of the work carried out by the eparchial service’s divisions since the beginning of the special military operation. The Volga Federal District Resource Center receives and processes requests and appeals from residents of Donbas, sending food, medicines, household chemicals, building materials, and equipment to the civilian population. Volunteers of the service regularly travel to military hospitals in border areas, where they care for wounded soldiers, restore destroyed homes, and help civilians.

The “ZOV — Prichal” project provides psychological and medical-social support to returning soldiers and supports the families of missing and active-duty SMO servicemen. Overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder without professional psychological help is virtually impossible. It is no less difficult to find one’s place in peaceful life after the trials, hardships, and losses endured in war. Project head Dmitry Gainullin began involving the SMO veterans under his care in patriotic work with children. Soon, the “Prichal” youth club opened, where mentors became combat veterans whose skills, knowledge, and abilities proved to be in demand in civilian life.