Chance For Life | Charity Organization

Chance for Life Charity Ball 2011

The Chance for Life Charity Ball took place at The Landmark, London, on 19 March. It is seven years now since Olga Makharinskaya and Elena Ragozhina started putting on charity events and raising funds for disadvantaged children.

Until last year, all the funds raised went to an orphanage for sick children, and to pay for treatment programmes. Now in its second year, the Chance for Life foundation was set up by Olga, Elena, and Karina Baldry to give financial support to various charitable organisations working with children. And this year as well, every effort possible is being made to help the remarkable Maria’s Children Art Rehabilitation Center that has played host to children from a number of orphanages over the past 17 years, providing them with drawing and music classes, psychological support, help with their education, summer camp holidays and even taking two groups of them on trips to London.

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What made this latest Ball different from all the previous ones? Perhaps, the fact that for the first time it really was a London ball – not only because it was held in London, and nearly all the auction lots were donated by London-based Russian artists, photographers, businessmen, and art collectors. Virtually all the guests at the Ball were well acquainted, had supported the charitable foundation for some time, and realised that all the funds raised at the Ball would definitely help Maria Eliseeva and her Center implement beneficial programmes for orphanage children.

Guests at the Ball included Ambassador of the Russian Federation Alexander Yakovenko, Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko, television presenters Nicholas Owen and Nicholas Parsons, and the most popular English jeweller Stephen Webster and his wonderful wife, Asya. Guests enthusiastically supported the auctions – the electronic bidding devices used in the silent auction added to the excitement, with everyone trying to outbid each other. A heated bidding battle was waged for the drumsticks, drumhead and CD signed by Deep Purple’s legendary and one and only drummer Ian Paice. The auctioneer instantly got two couples bidding for this lot. Passions ran high when Stephen Webster, much to the surprise and delight of the Ball organisers, offered a piece of jewellery as an auction prize, to be specially made for the winning bidder, and also dinner with himself and Asya. To help raise as much money as possible for the charity, Stephen and Asya are now making two pieces of jewellery – for two guests. When we thanked Asya for her support and generosity, she replied, “Why, this is charity – it’s worth it!”

Thanks to our sponsors and auction, we raised a total of £50,000. Funds this year will be going to help Maria carry out her Moscow projects, and also to finance a programme, whose primary aim is to give psychological and medical rehabilitation support to the children and adults caught up in the tragic events in Beslan. Part of the funds will go to provide scholarships and financial assistance to students from Beslan. Bursaries will be available to attend access to higher education courses. Volunteers (clowns and artists, local and foreign) from the Maria’s Children Center will be going to Beslan to put on creative workshops for all the schoolchildren interested in attending.

And now the most important part – to thank and list all the sponsors and artists who donated their works to the auction:

Eastlink Lanker Plc; IMS Industries Group; Anonymous donor from Switzerland; Bordeaux Index; Pijmani; Selfridges; English National Ballet; Getty Images; Ukrainian Airlines; Roman Pavlyuchenko; Olga Morozova; Olga Koletnik; Elena Glurdzhidze; David Mahateli and Natalie Kramer; Slava Polunin; Boodles; I. Knaster; V. Mikhailov; Victoria Christian; T. Gertik; Galina and Alexander Shlepyanov; Eugenia Lloret De Mar; Natalia Drygalo; Sisi Vayttser. Artists and photographers: Nina Krylova; Svetlana K-lee; Olga Novgorodtseva; Olga Baby; Anna Margulies; Peter Hambro; Maxim Nilov.

A big ‘thank you’ to all our guests for supporting us.

And many thanks to Russian Media House staff Tatiana Rodionova, Tatiana Chuvatkina, Yulia Belokurova, Elena Lapteva, and Vlad Shatunov.

Elena Ragozhina, Olga Makharinskaya, Karina Baldry

Directors, Chance for Life

Chance for Life – Charity Spring Ball 2010

Over two hundred glamorous guests attended the Charity Spring Ball held by the Chance for Life Foundation (www.chanceforlife.co.uk) in aid of the Russian Charity Maria’s Children (www.mariaschildren.ru). The Ball was held in the Ballroom of the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel, London, with the support of Russian Media House. After meeting the founder of Maria’s Children, Maria Eliseeva, the directors of the Chance for Life Foundation Elena Ragozhina, Olga Makharinsky and Karina Baldry decided to hold a fundraising ball in London in aid of her remarkable project. Maria’s Children is an organisation that works with orphans and children with disabilities. The project that began as an arts centre where children engaged in creative activities has gradually expanded far beyond the centre’s walls. Three hundred children from various Moscow orphanages attend classes at Maria’s Centre where they are taught, amongst other things, skills such as drawing, cooking and music. She also helps older children get into further education in order to obtain professional qualifications.

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It was touch and go for a while after the Icelandic volcano suddenly erupted, leaving most of the guests stranded abroad. But then, as if by magic, just days before the Ball, UK airspace reopened, and even more people than expected came to support this wonderful cause.

The Ball started with a champagne reception, followed by blinis and caviar and a sumptuous three-course dinner. Entertainment during the evening was provided by world-renowned Supperclub that opened up in London’s Notting Hill last year. The extravagant acts performed by glamorous Miss K, provocative Empress Stah, outrageous Chrisalys with a fantastic fire show, sexy Marawa Hula and Roxy Velvet at times simply took people’s breath away.

During the champagne reception guests had an opportunity to bid for one or more of the superb Silent Auction lots that included, among others, a limited-edition print of a Marilyn Monroe photograph donated by Getty Images, tickets to Cinderella performed by the English National Ballet, and six paintings by young members of the Maria’s Children Arts Centre.

The Live Auction conducted by brilliant auctioneers Hugh Edmeads and Victoria Wolcough of Christie’s raised around £50,000, thanks to the amazing lots donated by the generous sponsors including Pejmani Jewellers, Pal Zileri, Aldo Coppola, Amber Lounge, as well as unique prizes donated by world-famous tenor Sergei Leiferkus and former tennis star Olga Morozova. Two surprise lots were donated on the evening by celebrities attending, with the trend sparked by principal dancer of the Royal Ballet Covent Garden Ivan Putrov offering a private dance tutorial to the winner, and continued by Katie Melua who offered two tickets and a chance to hang out backstage with her during her upcoming concert.

Guests were also offered a unique opportunity to bid for fantastic Russian art by sought-after contemporary artists including, among others, works by Igor Makarevich, Sergey Bratkov and Alexander Sigutin.
The evening ended, as planned, on the dance floor with guests dancing the night away to music played by the Supperclub DJ.

‘Maria’s Children’ in the UK

This Charity Spring Ball was just one event in the extensive programme laid on for the small group from the Maria’s Children Centre during their visit to London. The children from the Moscow orphanages and others who attend Maria’s Arts Rehabilitation Centre are taught a range of subjects, including drawing and music, as well as communication skills, and, most importantly, how to help and support others. When planning this visit, its organisers took account of the experiences gained during a trip to Italy last year. Maria came to London with her one-year-old daughter, several volunteers and 20 children who for years have looked upon the Centre as home. On one of their first days here they travelled at the invitation of the King Edward VI School to Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, to take part in the Shakespeare Theatre Festival, an incredibly interesting project commemorating the Bard’s birthday. The Theatre Festival opened on 23 April, the day of both his birth and death (1564-1616) and will continue for a whole year. Over this period, every single one of his plays, sonnets and poems will be performed by the 32 theatres from various countries participating in the Complete Works Festival, as it is known – this brainchild of the Royal Shakespeare Company and largest theatre project in its history. The idea behind it is to perform all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays, one after the other, in close succession, including less well-known ones such as “King John”. The Festival plays host to professional and amateur theatre companies alike. So, it was this project the children and volunteers from the Centre came to take part in. They gave a theatrical mime performance accompanying a sung rendition of six of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. The music for the songs was composed by Alexander Shishov, a longtime friend of the Centre, while Maly Theatre director Alexander Kanevsky staged the drama group’s performance. The visitors’ programme in London was packed with activities, including sightseeing trips.

Pushkin House was the venue for two events: on 1 May, Maria and the children from her studio gave a drawing master class for local Russian-speaking children, and on 8 May, the children put on a performance of Pushkin’s fairy tale “The Tale of the Golden Fish”. Alexander Kolmonovsky created a stage play consisting of four scenes. Small groups of local and Moscow children spent an hour working on one of the scenes. The costumes were created by Natalia Kolmonovskaya. The result was a very entertaining improvised performance.

One of the Maria’s Children Centre’s greatest achievements has been to help the children who have grown up in orphanages and attended the Arts Rehabilitation Centre become well-adapted, outgoing young people. The art classes have also served a therapeutic purpose. Although a lot of the students have turned out to be talented artists, the main aim of the art work has been to help them take a fresh look at the world and create the right kind of value system. The Moscow visitors also spent a day at Wycliffe School in Gloucestershire, giving a clown master class to 14-year-old students, and performing and teaching them several of the clown acts they use on visits to hospitals and orphanages in Moscow. They themselves were taught this form of charity work by the famous American clown Patch Adams, a great friend of the Centre, who has spent many years working with a team of clowns, and putting on shows for sick children in hospitals around the world.

The funds raised during the Charity Spring Ball held by the Chance for Life Foundation will help the Maria’s Children Arts Rehabilitation Centre fund new programmes for the children. Photos of the Ball can be seen in this issue of New Style and at www.newstyle-mag.com. You can find out about the Chance for Life Foundation’s work at www.chanceforlife.co.uk. You can also learn more about the Maria’s children Arts Rehabilitation Centre at www.mariaschildren.ru.