In the salon of curtains and textiles in Ivanteevka near Moscow, work has been in full swing since the morning.
At night, a caravan of cars with humanitarian aid leaves for the Donbass.
Volunteers neatly pack into boxes everything they have sewn, knitted, assembled or made for those on the front lines.
“This is our sewing studio, where we do good for our guys.
All the basic stuff happens here, in this little workshop.
We cut here, we sew here, we ship here.
We’ll find out what the guys need,” the co-owner of the salon and the administrator of the “Partisans.
We sew for ours" Tatyana Kozmirchuk.
“Our group is quite diverse, and everyone is doing their own thing.”
According to Kozmirchuk, it all started in October with the sewing of balaclavas.
Subsequently, the assortment expanded: balaclavas began to be sewn from different materials, then hats, snoods, thermal underwear, self-resetting underpants for the wounded, napkins, pillowcases, duvet covers, chuni and slippers appeared.
RT
“Before the New Year, we were able to ship over 2,000 of our products alone.
In addition, the inhabitants of Ivanteevka brought things.
We sorted everything out and took it away,” she says.
“After the New Year, we have already shipped over 300 items and we are trying to increase this number.”
According to Tatyana, she was always looking for an opportunity to help: before it was helping animals in shelters, and during the coronavirus pandemic, she created a group and sewed masks with other volunteers.
“Then there was a lull - time to be with the family, and now back to battle,” says Kozmirchuk.
“My partner Victor helps me in this, who allowed me to sew things in the salon outside of work, and also financially supports me very much.”
After the fighters receive the products, they give feedback whenever possible, she continues.
Thanks to this, all things can be upgraded and made as comfortable as possible.
“Our group“ Caring Z ”we jokingly call“ Restless ”, Tatyana smiles.
“Because we can no longer stop—and we have no right to.
We are doing this not even for our children, but more for ourselves, because we have no right to betray the memory of our grandfathers, who once saved the whole world from fascism, and we are just saving our country.”
RT
Not all craftswomen sew in the "workshop" of the store.
Tatyana Pokoptseva sews at home, because, according to her, the places behind the typewriters in the cabin are always busy, but you want to help.
Therefore, the housewife only brings finished products to be sent to the store.
"It is very convenient.
If there is a free minute, I can quickly flash something and then continue to do business.
Sometimes it happens that you sew with one hand, and you interfere with the borscht with the other, ”she smiles.
- I have a husband and two sons, 19 and 13 years old, sewing is a bit out of their profile.
They help me with household chores or take things here to the salon.
"Collecting the whole world"
Oksana Sokolova is a volunteer of the Golden Hands of an Angel project.
She, along with other activists, is engaged in the manufacture of tactical stretchers.
“After the start of the special operation, I could not stand aside.
The most vulnerable group in war is the wounded.
I learned about the movement and decided that I could start making stretchers in Ivanteevka, ”she tells RT.
- On March 26, we already made experimental copies and sent them.
The military tested and we started doing more.
During this time, Ivanteevka made 100 pieces, and maybe more.
Tactical stretchers come complete with thermal blankets and slings to free the fighters' hands.
They are packed either in pouches or in five-point bags.
According to Oksana Sokolova, the stretcher can withstand more than 500 kg, so it can also be used to carry heavy things.
RT
Her namesake, Oksana Gubina, helps with tailoring in the salon, and fills trench candles at home - for example, in one night she made more than 60 candles from 20 kg of paraffin.
“Each fighter in the set has a spirit lamp, but it is not enough for a long time.
Trench candles are a great alternative.
They can be used for cooking to warm up or dry something, ”says RT Gubina.
For the manufacture of such candles, tin cans, corrugated cardboard and paraffin are required.
The children usually help her fill the candles.
“Younger children, sixth and eighth grades, cut cardboard for candles.
I don’t let them go to the temperature so that they don’t get burned.
And barricades of cans grow at home, she continues.
- Banks are collected by the whole world: we put a box with the inscription “Banks are needed!” in the entrance, just the holidays have recently been.
We also collect finances for paraffin from the whole world, somewhere from our own pocket.”
"Follows the heat"
Tatyana Kozmirchuk presents Igor Zgirovsky, the owner of the Needlework store, as a person who "watches the warmth of the soldiers' feet."
He provides the children with socks and other knitted products.
“When we began partial mobilization, I came across a record on the Internet that ladies from different regions united and began to knit socks.
I realized that I could help too,” he says.
- We have been cooperating with the local Active Longevity and the city society for the disabled for many years.
I brought them yarn for grandmothers and women to knit things for the baby's house.
I decided that we can do the same here.”
Zgirovsky cannot name the exact number of needlewomen who provide the front with woolen socks - he personally cooperates with 30 volunteers, but many simply bring their products to the store.
RT
“Sometimes people come and say they don’t know how to knit, but they would like to help.
Then they buy yarn, and I give it to needlewomen.
Just yesterday I took 100 pairs to the military fraternity, so now I have such funny ones left, - Igor smiles, demonstrating socks with a red ornament.
“But the guys say that if only they were warm, and needlewomen can fantasize with color and ornament to their taste.”
According to Zgirovsky, the socks of his needlewomen differ from those purchased in that they are made with warmth.
In addition, volunteers often put wishes notes, chocolates or coffee bags into socks.
“We are not limited to socks.
Now we are sending samples of covers for the stump to the hospital.
We will wait for feedback so that, if necessary, we can improve the technology.
Also now knitted belts are relevant for fighters.
So far, prototypes of the needlewoman are only being created.
There are plans to develop knitted gloves for snipers,” he says.
Igor himself knows how to knit, but he does not have such experience as his craftswomen.
True, seeing the example of others, he could not resist and reached for the knitting needles.
He shows RT the balaclava he made: “I proposed this idea to our needlewomen, but we received feedback: it turned out that the hat and snood were more convenient for the guys,” says Zgirovsky.
RT
"Intra-family reconciliation"
Denis Nechaev is the father of five children, director of the medical center “My Doctor.
Polyclinic.
Together with his colleagues, he collects medicines for the fighters, and at home with his children he makes wooden boxes in which all help is sent to the front line.
“This is an intra-family coordination for the sake of caring for those who are at the front.
The elders, while they were on vacation, helped.
Now they have gone to study.
And the younger ones are helping now, hammering nails, ”says RT Nechaev.
“The fighters are now risking the most precious thing for us: their lives and health.
We, of course, also had to join in to ease the hardships.
According to Denis, at first he and his colleagues collected dressings, tourniquets, anti-shock drugs, but then they realized that the fighters also needed other medicines.
RT
“We are used to the fact that any war is a traumatic epidemic, that during hostilities, injuries, burns, and frostbite mainly occur.
But we do not always think that fighters are ordinary people and can also get sick.
It is believed that neither poisoning, nor digestive disorders, nor high fever, nor headaches can happen to young, strong, healthy people, says Nechaev.
“And if a person on combat duty has a migraine or a stomach upset, then the quality of his work will be lower.
He can receive much more damage in a combat collision than a healthy person.
Therefore, the idea of helping against diseases arose.”
Volunteer doctors prepare an average of ten first-aid kits a week.
They contain medicines for "common" diseases and instructions for them, as well as anti-cold teas, tar soap, individual dressing bags and tourniquet tourniquets.
According to the doctor, the reception of the medical center has practically turned into a collection point for assistance, where each employee brings what he considers necessary: “For example, our chief coordinator Angelina Sokolova invests as much as possible in caring for the fighters and also puts vitamins for the guys.”
RT
"Everyone is there"
When all the help is packed, Evgeny and Natalia arrive to put the boxes in the car and take the cargo to Donbass.
“We have friends in the LPR who called us and told us all the “charms” of life there.
That even old things are necessary.
After that, my wife and I had the idea to create a group and organize a gathering, ”says RT the head of the Veles private volunteer organization Evgeny.
“I first went to the Donbass four months ago and have traveled by myself ever since.
But this time, my wife will be with me.”
RT
According to the man, they do not have many subscribers in the group, but everyone provides all possible assistance.
Eugene thanked the person who recently donated defibrillators and oxygen cylinders for hospitals.
Among the boxes in the car there is one, addressed not to any unit, but to a specific fighter.
Natalia has to find him in order to personally deliver a package from Tatiana Kozmirchuk.
"This is my friend.
We know his unit number, call sign, and it's also his birthday today - we want to give him a present.
Another 15 people serve with him, naturally, they will not be left without parcels either, ”says Tatyana.
RT
According to her, at the very beginning, the "Partisans" were going to help, first of all, the Ivanteevsky and Pushkin guys participating in the NWO.
“But we realized that it is not possible to help only “our own”.
Everyone is there,” Kozmirchuk stressed.