Lana Zhurkina

Ms Zhurkina is the head and founder of the charity House of Friends and the charity foundation Two Lives.
She has degrees in medicine, psychology and journalism. This combination enables her to develop new ways to help people, establish open communication with the sick and the healthy, the poor and the rich and implement very ambitious large-scale projects.
In 2017, she organised a charity centre to help people in trouble. She then began to arrange primary medical and social help for the homeless, while promoting and developing street healthcare.
In 2020, the House of Friends team successfully implemented a project called Shelter aimed at helping people affected by the pandemic and the economic crisis that came with it. No less than 4,000 of Moscow's homeless were put up in specially rented hostels and hotel accommodations. People received food, clothes, footwear, hygiene products, medical and social care. Those in need received help restoring documents they had lost, while those who didn't have the means were given financial help to go home.
At the moment, she is paying special attention to working with elderly people who have been victims of domestic abuse, real estate fraud or deficient application of the law. A special foundation called Two Lives was set up for them, as well as a patronage service and a family-type shelter.
Ms Zhurina is a member of the Russian National Front, a group that seeks to amend legislation to protect the rights of the homeless.