"Heroes of Our Time": experts at the National Centre RUSSIA explained why society has become stronger and more united

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The main outcome of the outgoing year in Russia is the maturity reached by society. Over the past five years, the country and its people have become internally stronger and more resilient. This is also linked to the increased willingness to help one another. These conclusions were drawn by the experts of the plenary session "Together Towards Victory: The Strength of one Nation". The event took place during the fifth International Forum of Civic Participation #WEARETOGETHER at the National Centre RUSSIA.

More than 140,000 projects across various fields and sectors are registered on the Dobro.rf platform. Today, however, the key focus is the special military operation. The most popular category of the International Prize #WEARETOGETHER is "Heroes of Our Time". Moreover, around 65% of projects in other categories are also connected with it, said the Chair of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy and the Head of the Dobro.rf ecosystem, Artyom Metelev.

"The main outcome of this year is that we, as a society, have become very mature. Over the past five years, the country, society, each of us have become far stronger and more resilient, both internally and externally. Why is this happening? On the one hand, the internal willingness to help is very strong. We see this in research: priorities and values have changed. On the other hand, in addition to these internal value-driven transformations, the support provided to volunteering in our country also plays a role. And this too is an outcome of the year. Russia is the only country in the world that has enshrined support for volunteering in its Constitution. This was a decision fundamentally made by our President, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. And a huge number of these processes are taking place under his attention," said Artyom Metelev.

Any caring person, regardless of profession, can do something for the common good, noted discussion participant, television and radio host and journalist Tutta Larsen. She spoke about her project "Born of the Heart", dedicated to volunteering and charity in the context of the special military operation.

"Modern young people have an enormous demand for truth and for service. I was very interested to see how college students, young people aged 16 — 17, would react to this project. And I saw how inspired they became: they were given a clear example of real service, of genuine purpose. Volunteering, in my view, greatly helps a person find their path in life, their community and their people — and, ultimately, themselves; to grow, to mature and to become an adult through working for the benefit of others," said Tutta Larsen.

Support for the frontline may be creative and emotional in nature, especially when working with children in Donbass and Novorossiya. It is our direct responsibility to give them back their childhood, said the Director General of the State Unitary Enterprise of the City of Moscow "Great Moscow State Circus on Vernadsky Avenue", Edgard Zapashny.

"When we visit hospitals and children's centres, the doctors thank us above all for the emotional support. It brings back a small spark of hope. We recently visited Donetsk, Lugansk and Gorlovka, and went to see children with oncology, and almost all of them previously had no opportunity to go anywhere — so we worked right there, in the wards," said Edgard Zapashny.

He also said that extensive creative work must be carried out in the zone of the special military operation. Edgard Zapashny urged public figures to fill the information space with the right information and to pay more attention to ongoing events.