New Year is the most amazing and magic holiday of the year for children in Russia. Many children are looking forward to the NY celebrations more than to their own birthdays, because this is the magic night when Father Frost comes to them and fulfils their most wanted wishes. For over 15 years students of the Anglo-American school in Moscow have been making amazing gifts to the children in care of Taganka children's fund. Thanks to their care and support, every child at Taganka children's fund always receives a surprising gift in time for New Year. bringing them lots of joy, happiness, amazement and fills their holidays with magic. We would like to offer our most sincere thanks to the students, parents and staff at the Anglo-American school in Moscow for the magic they have once again shared with the kids at Taganka children's fund! Thank you!

The new play Festive stories from Father Frost by the inclusive theatre Taganka shed was an amazing present to all friends of Taganka children's fund. The plot about the difficulties of magic characters and how they did everything possible to overcome them was developed and realised by the kids themselves with the help of their talented teachers: Alexey Vasuykov, Yaroslava Sokolovskaya, Vita Moroz, Varvara Habibulina and Ekaterina Zhogleva. We would also like to express our heartfelt thanks to Dinaoda centre for children's arts, who have been a wonderful host for the Taganka shed and provided their stage for the performance.

Inclusive theatre Taganka shed invites you to come see its new performance Festive stories from Father Frost on the 22nd December 2016. In a magic holiday story we will experience traditional celebrations as well as magic encounters with New Year machine that produces decorations and multiple fantasy creatures who will have to overcome a number of challenges to reach a happy final! Please join us in the House of children's creative arts Dinaoda at Filipovsky per. 8 bld. 1 (metro Kropotkinskaya). We look forward to see you there!

Quoting the well-known poem by Nikolay Zabolotsky: "Do not let your soul be lazy! So that you are not held behind, Your soul must work hard Both day and night, both day and night!" We all know these lines very well from early childhood days, but how often do we think about them and what they really mean? In the age of free-flowing information and new technologies, consumerist society and race to get knowledge and diplomas, people tend to forget about the very important part of each person - our inner development. Kindergarten, school, multiple educational groups teach kids to behave in a very restricted way: this is what is right and this is what is wrong. This is what you need to do to get "satisfactory" marks at school and this is what you need to do to get "excellent". In such system the child loses the ability to make decisions independently, to express their individuality. But remember, each person has a personality. That is why the aim of Taganka shed inclusive theatre company is first of all to develop the personality, to help the children learn to make their own decisions, to evaluate circumstances, to share emotions with the surrounding world and to not conform to the system just because. They learn to find a way out of any situation, no matter how difficult, and to stop waiting for someone to do it for them, while they stand lonely in the corner unprotected and unequipped with skills to do it themselves. Theatre also develops communicative skills, respectful attitude to what others do, to their opinions. The child can learn to present themselves and to behave freely, to be part of the team as the theatre is always one big family. Of course, we do not expect all our theatre company members to become professional actors, though some of them are already members of Moscow Theatres companies, which we are tremendously proud of. But they will certainly find it easier to find their way in life, to be more confident, open, communicative and interesting members of society.

New techniques in education and preventive work with dysfunctional families have been chosen as directions supported by the government think-tank Agency of strategic initiatives at the Social Initiatives working group meeting, that took place on 28 November led by Elena Nikolaeva. The project is headed by Sergey Borzov, the programme director of Taganka children's fund. It aims to improve the quality of social services provided to families and children at risk, to prevent social orphanhood through effective partnership between socially oriented NGOs, state organisations and civil society actors. Its main priority is protecting the rights and lawful interests of children. The model presented has many levels of involvement, based on the introduction of new techniques into the system of social organisations responsible for preventive work. One more important aspect is the educational work and further development training of the specialists working in this area and provision of supervision. This model uses the systematic approach, works on the constant basis and is supported by necessary regulations in place.

In Russia, Mother's day has been celebrated also recently. It has been established by the order of the RF President number 120 "On Mother's Day" from the 30th January 1998 and is celebrated on the last Sunday of November. This day has a special place among multiple holidays celebrated in Russia. This is the day to say warm and grateful words to all Mothers, who give children love, kindness, care and tenderness. On the 24th November 2016 kids from the Preschool, Choir and Jazz vocals groups have prepared a concert for their parents, with which they wanted to say Thank you, dearest of all! Taganka children's fund sincerely hopes that children will say many more kind words to their mothers on this and other days to come!

There are many various issues, deep and serious problems that trouble the kids and, when not tackled timely, will remain unsolved, ruin children's psyche and become the source of constant misbehaviours and unexplained diseases. When the kids get involved in creative activities, they effectively open up new skills, develop their creative self, take more initiative and develop as personalities. While playing through various situations, the child can look at the problems from the different point of view, can evaluate his or her reaction to it, change attitudes, develop values and start treating people differently. The child discovers new opportunities to build relations with others and express themselves as well as becoming a better person. The highly skilled team of Taganka children's fund will help children and teenagers find their hidden issues, take them to the surface and tackle them, while learning to communicate better, make contact with people, understand others better and accept themselves and others as they are. Every child has a talent. We invite children and teenagers from 7 to 17 years old to the free classes of Taganka shed inclusive theatre. The classes take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at Marksistsky per. 3. Please call us on +7 495 9117429 or +7 495 9117449 to find out more.

The "Warmhearted" studio has produced a set of puppets to order by the Centre of social support to family and children "Semya". Now the kids have a new theatre to play with. The studio now takes individual orders too. It also welcomes new participants to come and join the team. If you have any questions or would like to join the studio, please call +7 495 3690034. The classes take place at Bolshoi Fakelny pereulok, 9/11. This activities are realised by the Taganka children's fund within the framework of Help yourselves project of the Charitable programme of support to NGOs and physical persons by invitation from CAF Russia and with support of CAF foundation (Charities Aid Foundation).

In spite of the weather outside, Rostochek group for children with disabilities has recently held a celebration of autumn. Participants have been sharing poetry on autumn themes, sang songs and danced with autumn leaves, made during one of their workshops. And most importantly, they have performed the play by V. Suteev called "Under the mushroom cap".

The year 2017 will be the year of the Fiery Rooster according to the eastern calendars. You can find all sorts of roosters among our children's toys and Xmas decorations. Not all of them are fiery, but we promise, they are all magical! Please order yours today by e-mailing: TCFcharity@mail.ru or calling +7(495)369-00-34

Taganka children’s fund invites you to take part in a charitable project “DOING GOOD WITH A POSTCARD FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON 2017”. By joining in, you will not only be able to congratulate your friends, colleagues, partners and clients with upcoming winter holidays with the help of our beautifully designed cards, but also help families in need, including single-parent, large families and families with disabled children or parents in them.

The crafty participants of the "Warmhearted" workshop are already making Christmas decorations, and we are now ready to offer them for sale. Who wants to buy some for the coming festive season? All decorations are handmade of cloth, which makes them safe for little children, as there are no little beads and marbles, all pieces are safely secured on the cloth. Also you can buy a Xmas tree made of cloth from us and decorate it together with you little one. All products for sale is available on our website - http://mserdechno.ru

The inclusive theatre Taganka shed continues enrolment of children 7 to 15 years old into junior and middle groups. The classes take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 5pm till 7pm at Marksistsky per. 3. You will get an opportunity to try your acting skills, to overcome public speaking fears, to develop your creativity, communication skills, speech and the most important - to have fun in the friendly environment and find new friends. We look forward to welcome you soon! The new play is ready to be staged!

Thanks to the funding from Cargill company, we have launched social rehabilitation classes in Rostochek group on the 3 September 2016. The classes take place twice a week on Wednesdays from 11.00 till 13.30 and on Saturdays from 11.00 till 14.30 at Taganka children's fund venue Marksistsky per. 3. Rostochek group is now getting prepared for the Autumn celebrations. Participants with various degrees of disability have started learning new songs, poems and dances. They also work on new crafts and decorations for the celebrations, so that they are fully involved in all activities for the performance.

Studio "Warmhearted" has succesfully presented its project during the seminar at the All-Russian People's Front (ONF). The project aims to provide additional earning opportunities and part-time employment to those mothers, who are not able to work full-time due to the difficult life situation. This project is realised in the framework of the Charitable programme of support to NGOs and physical persons on invitation from CAF Russia with support from CAF (Charities Aid Foundation)

Studio "Warmhearted" invites 16+ year olds who are entitled to benefits to come join its classes and become a craftsman or a craftswoman, to learn to create sweet bouquets from chocolates, educational toys, interior accessories and many other useful things. You will also participate in exciting workshops. Upon completing this training, you will be able to earn additional income by selling your hand-made products. For more information and to sign up, please call +7(495)369-00-34. The classes will take place at the following address: Bolshoy Fakelny pereulok. 9/11. This is a Taganka children's fund project within the wider "Help Yourselves" strand of work supported by the Charitable programme of support to NGOs and physical persons on invitation from CAF Russia with support from CAF (Charities Aid Foundation).

The "Children's World" foundation has organised a charity event "Participate! and "Back to school together" from the 1 till 31st August 2016. The Children's World chain shops located at Dubravnaya street and Pyatnitskoye shosse have collected donations and passed them on to Taganka children's fund. THANK YOU VERY MUCH to all anonymous benefactors, the staff of the "Children's World" foundation and staff of the "Children's World" chain shops for the provided help to children from low-income families. Thanks to your care, children from these families have started the new school year well-equipped with everything they require at school, including notepads, paints, pens, pencils and gym uniforms. With your support children are already proud to achieve first good results.

On the 7th September 2016 Taganka children's fund hosted an off-site traineeship entitled "The Municipality is the Territory of social cohesion", as part of the 7th All-Russian exhibition-forum "Together for the sake of children! Together with children!". Professional community has been presented with the experience of joint promblem solving of families with children through utilizing and combining all available resources of the Taganka district. Presenters included Nadezhda Smirnova, the head of the department for support of Social projects of the Agency of Strategic Initiatives and Sergey Golubev, the General Director of the LLC "Foundation for social investment". Sergey Borzov had lead the round table discussion on professional development of NGOs and utilizing available resoures: achievements, difficulties and prospects". Taganka children's fund own project entitled "Studio "Warmhearted" aimed at training and part-time employment for teenagers and adults has been the topic of the lively professional discussion. Participants of the event also had a chance to take part in adn enjoy the show class of the "Inclusive theatre "Taganka Shed", which presents techniques of tackling psychological issues of children through inclusive creative process.