Alexey Kotin

Alexey on working for Nochlezhka

What are you by trade?

My diploma says ‘A theatre and cinema actor’. But I don’t feel like acting.

How long have you been working for Nochlezhka? Why did you come to the charity?

My parents would buy the ‘Na Dne’ newspaper [a newspaper about the homeless sold by the homeless] now and then, so I have known and admired the charity since I was very young. Since approximately the same age I have seen the injustice around me and I have wanted to help people. This is what brought me to the charity, or, to be more precise, to its utility room, where I volunteered, giving out clothes to those in need.

It’s been a year, I have ‘grown up’ and now fly up and down the stairs, making sure everything is in order. Bills, minor maintenance, various needs of the staff and the inhabitants, overall cleanliness – this is what I’m in charge of.

Why do you keep working for Nochlezhka?

Because it is despicable when an old man loses his flat through fraud and has to live at a bus stop.

What do you do in your free time?

I am interested in art.