Russian teen program comes to Princeton for fundraising

Oct. 15—PRINCETON — Laura Ward, director of The Harbor in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, is traveling through America for the next few weeks fundraising.

The Harbor is a teen outreach program in Russia that helps those kids that have aged out the orphanages to learn real world skills because they are undereducated and not taught necessary skills during their time in the orphanages.

The program was started in 2014 by Ward after she had been living in that area working as a missionary.

"It got started because it came to my attention that once they leave the orphanage, that's when the real trouble begins," Ward said. "They don't know how to do anything because they are not educated enough."

She added, "They are victims of a cruel system, and it's very, very sad."

Ward said that the statistic of those kids leaving the orphanages are really bad when it comes to how their lives turn out.

According to her 10 percent of those that graduate out of the orphanages will commit suicide, and many end up on drugs, prostituting, or in jail.

"The Harbor came about because we wanted to provide a transition for the orphans for when they leave the orphanage," said Ward. "A place where they can come in and be sad and learn how to live in the real world."

The Harbor is actually in St. Petersburg, Russia as well which is what Ward modeled the Nizhny Novgorod location after.

"They had done the hard part of building the program, we just modeled ours after it," said Ward.

The difference in the locations is that Ward's location is a religious organization that receives a lot of help from other churches and religious organizations and people.

"Everything we have for the teens is provided by other christians with the same idea and mentality that God loves these kids, and our main goal is to teach them about God and that their lives were not a mistake," she said.

The program is a residential program that houses six boys and six girls at a time.

They have two apartments for the separate genders which include 24 hour, 7 day a week mentors.

"What they do is help the kids get job interviews and into schools, help them stay in school, do their homework, and we also provide them tutors," said Ward. "The mentors also teach them the importance of budgeting."

The idea of doing that is to make sure they are able to succeed once they leave the program and are able to survive off the money they have available.

"We're giving them basic life skills, so that when they get out, they can live on their own," said Ward.

Ward said that she really loves working with the program, and feels that it was what she was meant to do.

When she had first went to Russia and was working with those orphans, she said that it was just devastating to see them age out and struggle.

"If any person could see these beautiful children that no one wants like I do, it would just be heartbreaking," she said. "For me, that was what drove me to do this."

The Harbor's local connection to Princeton came about when a member of Calvary Chapel in Princeton, Rita Viscup, went to Russia in 2013 and met Ward.

It was after she had visited a few more times that she was able to get her church involved with The Harbor, and Viscup is now the president of the recently opened 501C that she and her church opened to support the program even more.

"We mostly do fundraising and moral support," said Viscup. "Me and my husband do the accounting of the funds and work to get more support from all different areas."

Viscup had a local fundraiser at a friends home Friday, and they did a silent auction that had 50 attendees.

They also have a Craft Fair fundraiser planned for November 12 at Calvary Chapel Princeton, and Viscup asks that if any vendors are interested in having a table to contact her at 276-245-6579.

Ward stressed the importance of the program and has goals and plans to start a training center that would work with the children before they age out of the orphanages.

For more information on the Harbor, you can visit their Facebook page The Harbor Nizhny-Novgorod.

— Contact Kassidy Brown at kbrown@bdtonline.com.