Podgorodnee, Ukraine, December 27, 2019
Photo: eparhia.dp.ua
A new rehabilitation, physical therapy, an inclusive education center for disabled children was consecrated on December 20 in the village of Podgorodnee in the Dnipropetrovsk Province.
The service of blessing for the new St. John of Kronstadt Center was celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Irinei of Dnipropetrovsk and Pavlograd, reports the diocesan website.
Photo: eparhia.dp.ua
The center’s work is aimed at improving the quality of life of children with disabilities through comprehensive rehabilitation and creating opportunities for socialization and prospects for an independent future. Children with neurological diseases and musculoskeletal disorders from all across Ukraine will be able to undergo rehabilitation.
Met. Irinei was concelebrated by the head of the Diocesan Youth Department, the head of the Family Affairs Department, the head of the Catechization and Missions Department, the priest-director of the new center, and other clergy from the Dnipropetrovsk Diocese.
Photo: eparhia.dp.ua
The initiators of the project, Pavel and Dmitry Ovchinnikov, representatives of the charitable foundation “We Help,” which helped create the center, and patrons and partners of the project were also present at the blessing ceremony.
After the consecration, the Metropolitan addressed all those present with words of gratitude and presented the center with a gift of an icon of the Savior.
Photo: eparhia.dp.ua
The center will begin taking patients in mid-January. The first floor will have a chapel named for St. John of Kronstadt, which will also soon be consecrated.
