Vera (foundation)

The Vera Hospice Assistance Foundation was launched in 2006 when Vera Millionshchikova , founder and chief physician of the First Moscow Hospice, became seriously ill. The main goal of creating the fund was to help the First Moscow Hospice, but over time began to help more than 20 hospices in various regions of Russia ^[2] .

The Board of Trustees of the foundation was headed by Ingeborg Dapkunaite and Tatyana Drubich . Among the members of the board of trustees are dancer Andris Liepa , writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya , other artists, writers and musicians ^{[3] [4]} . According to Anna Federmesser: “trustees are a guarantee of honesty and decency of the organization. And in this regard, trustees have more responsibilities than ordinary employees, because they need to delve deeper into matters strategically, deeper, into the financial part, into planning, everything to understand that you give your name, if you give, then you and yourself must protect and promote the organization with this ” ^[5] .

The fund has a regional assistance program, a children's program, and an on-site service. According to 2014 data, there are 170 Moscow children and 151 children in the regions among the wards of the fund. The fund helps 32 hospices throughout the country, more than 320 families with seriously ill children receive help, more than 400 volunteers take part in the work ^[6] . In 2014, the fund spent more than 4 million rubles on the training of doctors ^[6] .

The Foundation is engaged in charitable projects, including auction and book publishing, and holds children's holidays “Sweet Day for Those Not Hard”, bringing joy to the wards and funds to help them ^[4] . In 2014, the book “A man dies. What to do? ” ^[7] .

Since 2015, the Vera Foundation, with organizational support from the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian State Humanitarian University and the Student Relations Department of the Russian State Humanitarian University , has been conducting international conferences “Development of Palliative and Hospice Care for Adults and Children” with the participation of world palliative care specialists - Bruce Cleminson (Great Britain), Steynhorna David (USA), Lynn Halamish (Israel), Tamara Klikovach (Serbia), Jean-François Collet (Switzerland), Alexander Gnezdilova , Anna Federmesser, Diana Nevzorova , Frederica de G AAF, Lydia Moniava , Anne-Sonkin Dorman , Basil Shtabnitskogo and other ^{[8] [9] [10]} .

In 2013, the foundation became a laureate of the Moscow festival “Formula of Life”. The winner’s diploma was awarded to Anna Federmesser on November 25 by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin in the White Hall of the City Hall ^[11] .

Together with the Give Life Foundation, the Vera Foundation initiated the creation of the first children's hospice House with a Lighthouse in Moscow, the opening of which was scheduled for 2016, but was postponed to 2018 ^{[12] [13] [14] [15]} . According to Anna Federmesser, “like the first Moscow adult hospice, the first Moscow children's hospice should become a model for the whole country” ^[6] .

In 2017, the fund took part in the development of a passport of the priority project “Improving the quality and accessibility of palliative care in the Russian Federation” ^[16] .

At the end of 2017, the fund's assets amounted to 616 million rubles. The fund accumulates funds from donations to accounts in management companies , and the income spends directly on financing the activities of the fund. In 2017, assistance to hospices (for adults) amounted to 22.6 million rubles, to the Children's Hospice - 44.8 million rubles ^[17] .