On May 23rd, in Depo Moscow (the largest food mall in Europe), a social action “I’m Lost” was held jointly with the Search for Missing Children Foundation. It was timed to coincide with International Missing Children’s Day, which is celebrated annually on May 25th.
On the vast territory of the food mall, the organization’s volunteers’ children were attracting Depo visitors’ attention by wearing identical “I am lost” T-shirts. Thus, the organizers wanted to know: how does society react on seeing children alone in public places and how to encourage people to be more attentive?
Dmitry Vtorov, the president of the Search for Missing Children Foundation, took the floor on the main stage. He talked about the ways of organizing the search for lost children in various conditions: in the forest, on vacation, in a large crowd, in shopping centers, etc. The organization’s security school instructors held free consultations and question-and-answer sessions with parents. Moreover, messages about missing and still not found children were projected on the screens of the food mall. Also, volunteers of the Search for Missing Children Foundation handed out booklets and leaflets on child safety to the guests of the food mall.
The Search for Missing Children Foundation has existed since 2009. For 12 years, volunteers have helped find more than 2.5 thousand missing children and adults. The Foundation works in close cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Investigative Committee, the Ministry of Emergencies, and the Moscow Government. Search requests are accepted by the round-the-clock free hotline 8-800-30-112-01. Also, through the website poiskdetei.ru.
Depo Lesnaya is a socially-oriented public space, a lifestyle quarter in the center of Moscow. In the largest building on the territory of the gastro-quarter Depo Moscow (the largest food mall in Europe) social, educational, and preventive charitable events like lectures and seminars, exhibitions and concerts, promotions and collection of gifts are regularly hosted.
Dmitry Vtorov, President of the Search for Missing Children Foundation: “About 45 thousand children disappear in Russia every year. In Moscow alone, more than 7 thousand under-aged kids are lost every year. Unfortunately, very often we see people passing by lost children. A child walks alone down the street late at night and none of the adults stops or asks why he is alone on the street. Therefore, we came up with an idea to hold such action and draw public attention to the issues of child safety. ”
Vladislav Yusupov, representative of the Depo Lesnaya gastronomic quarter: “We readily agreed to the proposal of the Search for Missing Children Foundation to hold such an action on the territory of the food mall. From the very beginning, the concept of Depo has been based on the principle of social responsibility; therefore we are always open to support actions drawing the society’s attention to social problems.”
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