Page 51 - Annual Magazine 2017

PROFILE | ANDREY & JULIA DASHIN’S FOUNDATION

renaissance to all opportunities. We both come from Kazan, a big business city

THE

still and not do anything about it would be highly hypocritical. The
OF CHARITY whereby the need to help the children there is tremendous. To sit
Alpari Charitable Fund in Russia helps families of handicapped
children with the costs of medical treatment and rehabilitation,
works with social programs and organizations that provide support
to orphaned children and provides recreational and educational
opportunities for children. When we came to Cyprus, the need
to continue our philosophy was something that immediately felt
Life’s most persistent question is: very natural. And thus came about the Andrey & Julia Dashin’s
“What are you doing for others?” F Foundation”.
- Martin Luther King Jr -
THE BEST JOURNEY TAKES YOU HOME
“My husband’s business required more of his time to be spent at
Story by Elena Constantinou his offices in Cyprus, so we took the decision to move our family
For one man, the journey of giving began almost 10 years ago in home here. We quickly became enchanted with the island and
Kazan, Russia. What started as an interest in helping one child like a Greek saying goes: ‘’he who loves, feels pain’’. From the
in need eventually grew into a fully established charity fund. The beginning we were interested to help and it was not difficult to
idea of giving dwells on, and having set anchor on the island of quickly learn and understand the social issues that exist in the
Cyprus, both Andrey and Julia Dashin stand firm in their belief in local community. We are both passionate in what we do and so
generosity and human kindness. we asked around, we read a lot and we listened a great deal to
what people here had to say. And what started with us helping
Andrey and Julia Dashin moved to Cyprus with their children in one child with eye sight problems, grew into an established charity
2012, set up a new home, established a new business and continued fund which has now set anchor in Cyprus”.
their vision of charity work overseas. They launched the “Andrey
& Julia Dashin’s Foundation” in April 2014 which aims to benefit CHARITY SEES THE NEED, NOT THE CAUSE
the local community as a whole, with special attention given to “Our goal in the Foundation is to extend a helping hand to any
those who are in desperate need of help. cause of genuine need in Cyprus without making any distinctions
or discriminations. The Andrey & Julia Dashin’s Foundation is
Our goal in the Foundation is perhaps the only foundation in Cyprus which diversifies itself
by giving back to so many different organizations with different
to extend a helping hand to any agendas, and a quick browse in our website will confirm this.
Every year the foundation tries to support organizations that
cause of genuine need in Cyprus. engage different fields: Children, Community/Culture, Education,
Environment and Healthcare. Our charity action focuses on
everyone living on the island, whether it is Cypriots, Russians or
other ethnic or social minorities”.

“The ability to make a positive change, even to the life of one GREAT PEOPLE INSPIRE GREATNESS IN OTHERS
community, one family or one person, is and will forever be - THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS
important”, the founders say. “Cyprus has greatly enriched our “So far, we have given out nearly 1,000 presents to children across
lives. This hospitable country impressed us immensely with its Cyprus with financial difficulties and the Foundation would not
culture and locals, and we like to be involved with the people of be able to do it without a dedicated team and a lot of passionate
the region including the problems they struggle with”, they added. volunteers who would spend their hours after work buying and
wrapping batches of presents every single day. In that respect, my
This is not an interview; it is rather the result of an honest and husband and I are lucky to be able to inspire in others the change
heartfelt conversation with Mrs Julia Dashina. we want to see in the world”.
FINDING WHAT MOTIVATES YOU, ESTABLISHING A CLEAR MIND
HELPS YOU TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS THROUGH DIFFICULT SITUATIONS
“The motivation comes from our philosophy of life which is quite “It is not so much establishing a distance from an issue in order to
simple. Give love. Be a constant force of good and offer hope and be unbiased, but rather putting yourself outside the circle (of the
support to anyone who truly needs it. As parents of three children problem) in order to have a full view and understanding of it. By
we know how important it is to offer them the best opportunities in gathering statistics and numbers and having our team do thorough
life and how important it is for all children to have equal access research on each upcoming project or collaboration, we become more

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