About Us

Introducing St Gregory's Foundation

Medical equipment

In addition to clothes and supplies for sewing and knitting, we provided medical supplies to various hospitals, including most urgently a kidney dialysis ward in St Petersburg, which had totally run out of supplies, putting its patients’ lives at risk.

Better care for mothers and babies

In the USSR abortion was still the main form of birth control. In 1993, in collaboration with the Order of St Lazarus, we started the “Well Mother—Well Baby” project. A programme of visits to the UK was arranged for Russian doctors and midwives working in a well-woman clinic in a poor area of the city; British specialists lectured in St Petersburg.

As a result, local sex education improved markedly. The abortion rate in our district also fell dramatically from 2.6 abortions to one live birth when we started to two babies to one abortion. Improvements in the care of pregnant mothers has meant healthier babies. A grant from the British Know How Fund allowed us to publish a Russian version of the Pregnancy Book which the NHS issues to every pregnant woman in the UK. 10 000 copies of this, distributed free of charge, are still widely used in St Petersburg.

Introducing physiotherapy

In the 1990s, physiotherapy as we know it did not exist in Russia. With funding from the British government we provided initial training and support in creating a syllabus for teaching the discipline locally. Now fully recognised, the physiotherapists we trained continue to spread their skills across the country, and to work with families and schools to teach children with cerebral palsy to sit, stand and walk.

. . .and to the present

We continue to work in partnership with local organisations.  Our aim is still, not only to relieve distress, but to empower local people to address the problems of their own community.  Our work is focussed on four broad priorities:

• life skills for orphans and disadvantaged young people
• work with disabled children to help them fulfil their potential and take their place in society
• Building community with an emphasis on children and the poor
• Care for the elderly

Our organisation

In the UK we have one member of paid staff, Sarah Gale.  We rely greatly on the generosity of our directors and volunteers who help with fundraising, translating, and in other ways.

In 2007 our sister charity in St Petersburg, Pomozhem Drug Drugu or Let's Help Each Other, was founded.  Pomozhem Drug Drugu takes an active role in monitoring projects, reporting to the Russian authorities, and ensuring the legality of our work.  We are supporting them to develop their local fundraising.

As our name suggests, our founders were Christians. Our contacts within the Russian Orthodox Church, and particularly the blessing of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh (the late head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the UK), opened doors to us and introduced us to valued colleagues. However, our members and directors come from a variety of religious beliefs and none. Most importantly, we only work with partners who provide aid to those in need irrespective of religious, ethnic or political background.