Two new Naked Heart play parks for Siberia

Natalia Vodianova, Justin Portman and our donor and newly appointed UK trustee, Jamey Hargreaves, travelled to Siberia to open two play parks in Siberia in September. The first stop was made in Novosibirsk, the third largest city in Russia, to open a play park on a newly renovated recreation area in Kirov district. The Novosibirsk Foundation "Obshchee delo" was a co-sponsor of the new NHF play park, donating most of its annual budget towards the costs.

The opening ceremony attracted hundreds of children, parents and grandparents – more than any other opening so far in 2008. The new play area was named after Jamey Hargreaves, whose donation at this year’s Love Ball covered all of the NHF’s costs of building this play park.

A few days later, Natalia and Justin and several NHF friends opened another play park in Raduzhny. This play park was very generously co-financed by the local administration, who covered the costs of delivering the play park equipment, its installation, ground preparation, the fence and security hut. The play park in Raduzhny is positioned in a beautiful location on the river bank. The opening was attended by many children and their families.

A play park in Saransk on the first day of school

The 1st of September – the Day of Knowledge in Russia and the first day of school for children all over the country – was celebrated in Saransk together with Natalia Vodianova and Justin Portman at the new Naked Heart Foundation play park. During the opening ceremony Natalia congratulated the young visitors and reminded everyone that unfortunately this day is now also a day of sadness and commemoration for the victims of the Beslan tragedy, which provided the initial motivation for Natalia to start her charity to help Russian children.