Inclusivity
Every event we run is open to all. Language, age, faith and background are never conditions for belonging.
About us
Rooted in Kitee, responsible to everyone we serve
We are a community of neighbours — Finns, Russian-speakers, and people of many other backgrounds — who chose to organise ourselves as a proper registered association so that our work would be durable, accountable and worthy of public trust.
Our story
From a kitchen table to a registered association
Our chapter began the way most honest community work begins: a few families in Kitee noticed that newcomers and old-timers were living side by side without ever really meeting. The first language table gathered eight people around a kitchen table in early 2023. By midsummer there were forty, and the local parish hall had to be borrowed to fit everyone.
In 2023 the group formally constituted itself as Suomi-Venäjä-Seuran – Samfundet Finland-Ryssland Kiteen osasto ry and was entered in the Register of Associations maintained by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) under Registration No. / Business ID 30664502. Registration was a deliberate choice: it binds us to Finnish association law, requires an elected board and annual meetings, and makes our purpose — non-profit, public benefit work — a legal commitment rather than a slogan.
Today our work spans four program tracks: community integration, youth education, cultural heritage and social welfare. What has not changed is the scale at which we prefer to work — person to person, family to family, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
Core values
What we hold ourselves to
Respect
We listen before we speak. Dignity is the starting point of every conversation and every act of help we offer.
Community Wellbeing
We measure our success by the health of the whole community — not by the size of any single program.
Cultural Understanding
We treat cultural knowledge as something built patiently, through stories, language and shared everyday life.
Governance Transparency
Open books, open meetings, elected leadership. Accountability is a value we practise, not a paragraph we publish.
Our Mission
To foster civic harmony, educational development and community support in Finland by creating open, safe and sustained spaces for intercultural dialogue — and by standing practically beside the people who need us.
In the short term, that means weekly language tables, homework clubs, mentorship pairings, cultural events and a responsive welfare service that families can reach without bureaucracy or shame.
In the long term, it means measurable civic development: higher participation of newcomers in local life, stronger educational outcomes for the young people we mentor, and communities across our region where diversity is ordinary, understood and unremarkable — in the best possible sense.
Our Vision
We envision an inclusive Finland in which social cohesion is actively built, not passively hoped for — where every resident, regardless of mother tongue, origin or means, can participate fully in the life of their community and knows they are not alone in it.
We work toward towns and neighbourhoods where integration is something the whole community does together; where young people grow up fluent in more than one culture and confident in both; and where strong local support networks catch people before crisis does. Growth we care about is inclusive growth — the kind measured in relationships, confidence and trust.
Governance & legal status
We hold our legal status to be a promise to the public, and we publish the details openly so that donors, partners and authorities can verify them at any time.
Official registration disclosure
Suomi-Venäjä-Seuran – Samfundet Finland-Ryssland Kiteen osasto ry is officially registered in Finland with the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) as a registered association (rekisteröity yhdistys / ry) under Registered Nonprofit / Charity ID (Business ID): 30664502. Our registered address is Hämeenkatu 20, 33200 Tampere, Finland, and our official contact email is info@crsadr.com.
crsadr.com is the official primary domain for Suomi-Venäjä-Seuran – Samfundet Finland-Ryssland Kiteen osasto ry.
Board oversight
An elected board governs the association between annual meetings. Board members serve without remuneration, declare conflicts of interest, and are accountable to the membership under our rules and the Finnish Associations Act.
Public benefit compliance
Our rules dedicate all assets and income exclusively to non-profit, public-benefit purposes. Financial statements are prepared annually, reviewed by elected operations auditors, and made available to members and partners.
Full registration details and reporting commitments are published on our Transparency & Public Disclosures page.
Our people
Leadership & team
Real people, doing patient work. Our board, coordinators and educators give their expertise — and their evenings — because this community is their own.
Liisa Korhonen
Chairperson of the Board
A retired school principal from Kitee with three decades in education, Liisa chairs the board and leads our partnerships with local schools. She believes every child deserves one adult who never gives up on them.
Dmitri Volkov
Vice Chair & Dialogue Programs Lead
Dmitri has facilitated intercultural dialogue groups in Finland for over ten years. He designs our language tables and moderated discussion circles, and trains new facilitators each spring.
Anna Mäkinen
Treasurer & Financial Oversight
An accountant by profession, Anna keeps our books open and our reporting punctual. She prepares the annual financial statements presented at the association's spring meeting.
Sofia Lehtonen
Youth Programs Coordinator
A youth worker and former camp leader, Sofia runs our mentorship and skill-building programs. She is usually found wherever the young people are — which is exactly the point.
Mikhail Orlov
Cultural Heritage Curator
Mikhail leads our storytelling archive and exhibition projects, recording family histories and curating the travelling exhibitions that carry them from town to town.
Helena Niemi
Volunteer & Welfare Services Coordinator
Helena coordinates our network of over a hundred volunteers and manages the quiet, careful work of family support — food aid, guidance appointments and practical help.
Behind these names stand more than a hundred volunteers — tutors, drivers, cooks, translators and listeners — who make every program possible. Join them.