This is what we posted 2 years ago: Anna
Ilyinichna Polyakova is a retired school teacher. She worked at
school for almost 40 years and she is a good friend of our family.
She lives in a remote village of Komi Republic (Russia), not far
from the Arctic circle with severe cold winters.. Her monthly
pension now equals $40 -- it is worth of 2 trips to the grocery
store. She keeps sheep, chicken, pigs -- a lot of hard work in
order to feed herself. She presented me with a pair of nice thick
mittens last year: my hands felt like they were near the heater
while I was shoveling snow near the house in Maine: mittens were
nice and warm and it felt they bear the warmth of Anna's heart.
This year, when I was in Russia, it came to my mind that we can
probably help Anna Ilyinichna: I asked her to make a dozen of
pairs for us. She cut the wool off the sheep, washed it, made
threads -- all by hand -- and then knitted these wonderful mittens.
She was busy almost the whole summer with this project.
Update on Sept. 2006: From my recent conversation with Anna Ilyinichna over the phone I learned that with your great support over these 2+ years she managed to purchase a pump for the well, pipe installation, and have the water delivered to her home through the pipes. Now she has running water at home and does not have to carry heavy buckets of water from the well on icy paths!! She thanked very warmly (and many many times!) all of you, who purchased her mittens over the years. Here is the simple math: with pure profit is $10 a pair (it takes her one full day to knit it), she sold about 300 pairs. That's $3000 over 2 years. She managed to save some of the money and purchased the pump, pipes, and their installation.With your support her a life of a great and very hard-working person became much easier.
BOL'SHOE SPASIBO from all of us at Kremlin Gifts!
This is a nonprofit venture for us: all the proceeds
will go to supplement retirement of a really nice and kind person,
Anna Ilyinichna.
We hope that the warmth of her heart will make your
hands feel more comfortable next winter in these decorative and
thick woolen mittens. No machinery was used in their production.
We thank you for your support. |
