UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 13, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) coordinated its first Winter Break Project for children living in foster homes and social security centers for the first time this year; this is part of the bank’s Children Believe in Miracles program, the bank’s press service reports.

Fifteen teenagers from Bogdanovich, Kachkanar, Nizhniy Tagil, and Pervouralsk came to the bank’s head office on January 15 to take part in a ‘grown-up life workshop’.

‘The goal was to use the following five days to motivate the teens to seek work and learn to live on their own in a few years’ time. Sadly, there are many foster home alumni who know nothing about earning a living, cooking, or even grocery shopping. We did everything to help them learn,’ says the bank’s PR Director Elina Kuschenko.

According to Kuschenko, the workshop was designed in such a way as to supply the participants with both instruction and enjoyable free time activities. During the day, the young adults could learn about setting life goals (applying for college, getting a degree, looking for and applying for a job, providing for oneself), getting married, financial literacy and budgeting, the basics of human rights, and seeking medical help. After the lectures, they went on guided tours dedicated to the Urals’ history and paid a visit to the Russia’s First President Boris Yeltsin Museum. The teens also visited the premises of Sima Land, a large toy-making company, to look at the production process of a large-scale business. One of the evenings, they went to the city’s ice sculpture park and to the movies.