Married couple of UOC provides daily food to doctors and 22 large families

Parishioner of the UOC, Odessa restaurateur Inara Zarichanskaya. Photo: screenshot of the video from the YouTube channel of the Odessa Eparchy

In Odessa, a family of famous restaurant-keepers, parishioners of the Holy Assumption Odessa Patriarchal Monastery, Andrei and Inara Zarichansky throughout the entire coronavirus quarantine on an everyday basis deliver nutrition to 22 multi-member families and medical staff of the 2nd Odessa City Children's Hospital, which is located at the 16th station of the Big Fountain. This was reported on the website of the Odessa Eparchy.

According to the philanthropist, the idea was born when 2 weeks after the beginning of the coronavirus quarantine, the families of their employees exhausted their financial resources, and the Council of Many-Children Mothers of the Malinovsky District asked to assist the families that are on the verge of survival.

There are 118 people in these 22 multi-member families, of whom 89 are children, who do not have sources of livelihood.

“We were quarantined as it was prescribed: on March 15 we declared quarantine, we closed the restaurant, paid wages to all our employees, settled accounts with suppliers <...>,” Zarechanskaya said. “After 2 weeks, we realized that, first of all, our employees themselves are in need – the people, those families, who live from hand to mouth, have exhausted their resources within 2 weeks.”

Now the Fish restaurant prepares 300 charity dinners for such families and for doctors from the neighboring children's hospital on a daily basis. The restaurant staff told that each of these “dinners” is actually a full-fledged adult’s daily nutrition. One portion weighs 1 kg 300 g. It includes not only the first, second courses plus a salad but even a dessert (for example, on the day of filming, the cake was made for the people – Ed.).

All chefs have medical records, wash all surfaces in the restaurant every hour, work exclusively in medical masks and gloves. Not all staff work on shift; lunches are prepared in the morning and in the afternoon, restaurant couriers deliver dishes to destinations.

According to Andrei Zarichansky, this will continue until the last day of the coronavirus quarantine.

“We are parishioners of our monastery. We have been going to Sunday liturgies for many years, and we understand perfectly that faith without specific deeds is dead. I want to say that when you help your neighbors, first of all, you yourself feel like a human,” his wife Inara emphasized.

The Zarichansky family had previously provided charitable assistance to orphans and vulnerable groups of the population and also helped the UOC in organizing charity events.

The Odessa Eparchy invited to support a good initiative of this Orthodox family. It was also reported that the eparchy needs volunteers to participate in other diocesan projects.

The clergy and believers of the diocese make and distribute antiseptics and medical masks among the population free of charge, provide material assistance to the needy and provide housing for nonresident physicians, who cannot freely have their return journey from home to work under quarantine conditions.

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