December 30, 2015
Spring Valley, NY: Otrada Society hosts Gingerbread Fair

On Sunday, December 13, Otrada Society in Spring Valley, NY, hosted a Gingerbread Fair, where children were able to decorate gingerbread houses.

In the wonderfully adorned hall, prefabricated gingerbread houses awaited the children, whose eyes lit up when they began to decorate them with multicolored candies. The parents and grandparents looked on warmly as the children took joy in their work. One mystery remained unsolved, however: many candies seemingly vanished during their labors, never winding up on the decorated gingerbread!

Everyone was able to warm up with a delicious bowl of borsch and get their strength up with pirozhki and salads, all prepared by friends of Otrada at the neighboring Holy Dormition Convent "Novo-Diveevo."

The children’s fair was successful thanks to the hard work of many helping hands of all ages, under the talented direction of Olga Schafranek and Matushka Larissa Belikow. It is worth mentioning that many young people came to help the children decorate their houses, which gives hope in a growing generation of young men and women ready and willing to work for the common good.

All proceeds from the event will go to fund restoration work at Novo-Diveevo Convent.

The fair was a success by all counts, and at the end of the day, it was hard to tell who had had more fun – the children, proudly carrying their decorated gingerbread houses home, or their parents, gazing into the sparkling eyes of their children.

Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese