The Raisa Gorbachev Memorial REDISCOVER YOUR HEART AWARDS for the inspiration and empowerment of young people

In honour of the memory of Raisa Maksimovna Gorbachyova some exciting new awards for young people are being launched in Moscow this month.

A series of awards of 70,000 RUB are being offered forcommunity-based, humanitarian, environmental, educational or health-orientated and heart-warming projects created by young people in the Russian Federation that aim to empower, inspire and bring smiles to peoples’ faces.

These Rediscover Your Heart (RYH) Awards have been created by Dutch humanitarian and philanthropist, Fred Matser, to support young people and their initiatives towards creating a more functional society. The awards are named after Matser’s book Rediscover Your Heart: 7 Keys to Personal and Planetary Transformation (Findhorn Press, 2008, 2009) which aims to inspire positive changes in the world.

Any Russian youth organisation, youth group or young person with a project that fulfills the criteria is welcome to apply. Particular emphasis is being placed on projects in the greater Moscow area but others from further afield may also apply. The projects must take place during 2010-2011 and must serve Russian populations/communities. More details on the award criteria and how to apply for an award are being posted on the website www.rediscoveryourheart.org.

The awards have already been successfully launched in New York (2008) and London (2009) and are now being brought to Moscow in honour of the dedicated charitable work of Raisa Gorbachev, the late wife of Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, who passed away ten years ago on 20 September 1999.

Fred Matser, the creator of the RYH Awards, met Raisa Gorbachev on several occasions and they collaborated to establish the first dedicated hospital unit in Moscow for treating children with leukaemia. Fred has also been involved in other philanthropic initiatives in the USSR, and later Russian Federation, since the 1980’s.

Entries may be submitted from September 2009 to the end of January 2010. A distinguished panel with representatives from The Raisa Gorbachev Foundation and the Fred Foundation will select the successful awardees and these will be announced in March 2010 and presented at a special ceremony in Moscow in April 2010.

It is hoped that the Awards will create a legacy of inspiration and empowerment across the Russian Federation as others may become inspired to create or support similar projects in different regions.

About Fred Matser:

Fred Matser, a former successful businessman who developed and headed up what was one of the largest property development companies in the Netherlands, has spent most of his adult life dedicated to humanitarian and philanthropic initiatives. His work has spanned the fields of health, social change, education and the environment. He has long had a cordial association with Russia having taken part in various charitable and philanthropic initiatives there since the 1980’s and having formed a friendship with Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev since that time. He has never had any business interests of any kind in the USSR or the Russian Federation and offers these awards solely from a philanthropic perspective. He is based in the Netherlands and his Fred Foundation supports charitable initiatives around the world.

Contact Details:
Further information about the RYH awards can be found on: www.rediscoveryourheart.org
Details of the Fred Foundation and Fred Matser can be found on: www.fredfoundation.org and www.fredmatser.com

For more details on these RYH awards, or to arrange an interview with Fred Matser or previous awardees, please contact his representative, Jacqueline Young, RYH Awards Coordinator, on email: RYHeartUK@aol.com or Tel. +44 (0)771 4330188

The Moscow Times // 21.09.2009