(Russian Orthodox Church) Russia is vastly different from the U.S.A., but there are things we could learn from them, as we (the Orthodox jurisdictions in the U.S.) ourselves work toward developing a systematic way of working together in common service to the needy people around us.
Their need is, frankly, greater, and the resources are more meagre, and certainly this situation drives the earnestness of their efforts. Of course the Russians are still gathering themselves for the effort, as evidenced in the details of their highly comprehensive Roundtable Diakonia: Coordinating social work site: http://www.rondtb.msk.ru/info/en/coordination_en.htm#4
And here is a story within this website illustrating the efforts to bring orphans a full life, connected to the Church: A Road to Church: http://www.rondtb.msk.ru/info/en/orphanage1_en.htm#6
And we may be underestimating the need in the U.S. since so many of us live in the suburbs, where the most intractible problems of our society are not in our daily field of vision. These men are marching for a reason:
photo from The Million Man March, 1995 [Joacim Osterstam / Flickr] & http://www.radioopensource.org/black-men-in-crisis/
So this Russian resource page is presented here as an example of earnest planning and coordination to meet the needs of people, including those of persons with disability.
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