Debbie Deegan closes her 'To Children With Love' charity
Debbie Deegan comforts her adopted daughter Zina in 1999 documentary 'To Russia with Love'
After 25 years of working to supply help and post-institutional care to children in orphanages and impoverished communities around Russia, the To Children With Love charity, has announced its closure on Valentine's Day, 2022, with founder Debbie Deegan making the announcement in a post on her LinkedIn page.
"After 25 years working with the magnificent, abandoned children of Russia, we are bringing our charity to its natural end," she states.
"We would like to thank our Russian friends and volunteers, our donors and our Irish supporters for their trust and endless kindness and generosity."
Founded in 1998 after Deegan met a group of children in an orphanage in Russia and resolved to return to visit, the charity has engaged in outreach work with countless young people, including the launch of parallel programmes in Dublin.
"For me personally, and I am sure I can speak for our whole team, it was an absolute honour to be allowed into the lives of these children and experience such a warm welcome in a country that has given us full access for decades," she continues in the post.
The social campaigner intends to continue her own advocacy work in a personal capacity, but with various difficulties presented by Covid-19, Deegan is taking the next step in her body of work.
"Some of us will continue to visit, as a lifetime of relationships were born, but it will be smaller and personal.
"We will continue to visit children in institutions, so long as there are institutions, and take every opportunity to bring this type of care to an end.
"I will miss the weight of it. I will miss so much about it all. It was the most extraordinary twenty-five years anyone could ever have."
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