On the 15th of August the main protagonists of Ride to Moscow, local sponsors, volunteers from Geoclima Russia and members of the press have come together for the closing event of Ride to Moscow at Berezy park in Moscow. The evening has been not only a celebration of the Ride, but also and most importantly a meeting between the protagonists of RTM and the young people of the orphanage Bykovski Detskyi Dom of Moscow, especially invited for this event. This has allowed a first introduction of the project “A Door for Life” and has given the team great motivation to push the project forward.
During the evening the invited presenter from Italian Radio, Aleksandr Vodopyaninov, has presented the work of the fund and the details of the project, has expressed words of gratitude to the Russian sponsors Enprom and Vniiholodmash. The protagonists of the Ride, on the other hand, have recounted the most exciting and the most difficult parts of their 17-day journey. But the main focus was for the young people: the 17 boys and girls, aged between 16 and 18 years old, have been the real protagonists of the evening.
The main goal was to get to know each other and in order to do so both adults and youngsters have played some games to break the ice. With great success, all participants have ended up discussing each other’s stories and ambitions, sharing experiences of the past and hopes for the future with each other.
Both cyclists and the “backstage” group have had the chance to get to know the stories of the young people, like the stories of Anastasia, who is taking dancing lessons and wants to become a choreographer; of Sergey, who after having visited a restaurant with the orphanage wants to become a chef; of Marya, who wants to become a veterinary and would like to apply to university to study for the profession.
The evening followed with a feast, live music from a local band and a lot of dancing, with both adults and youngsters taking part all together. When it was time to say good-bye, nobody wanted to go home. But both the group of RIDE TO MOSCOW and the boys and girls they met can rest assured that even if RIDE TO MOSCOW is over, the real project “A Door for Life”, is just getting started.
