The Tolstoy Foundation is a non-profit charitable and philanthropic organization. It was established on April 26, 1939, by

Alexandra Tolstaya Countess Alexandra (Sasha) Lvovna Tolstaya (; 18 June 1884 – 26 September 1979), often anglicized to Tolstoy, was the youngest daughter and secretary of the noted Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. Biography The youngest daughter of Leo Tolstoy ...

, the youngest daughter of the Russian writer

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

, and her friend Tatiana Schaufuss. Its headquarters are in

Valley Cottage, New York Valley Cottage is a hamlet and census-designated place within Clarkstown, located in Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located northeast of West Nyack, northwest of Central Nyack, east of Bardonia, south of Congers, northwest o ...

Activities

Its original purpose was to help

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n refugees from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Later, the foundation played an important role in helping Soviet

displaced persons Forced displacement (also forced migration or forced relocation) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR defines 'forced displaceme ...

dissidents A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 2 ...

and former Soviet citizens to settle in the

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

. Presently among its goals the foundation lists education and training programs worldwide. Tolstoy Foundation has many branches of humanitarian organizations: it has

elderly care Elderly care, or simply eldercare (also known in parts of the English-speaking world as aged care), serves the needs of old adults. It encompasses assisted living, adult daycare, long-term care, nursing homes (often called residential care), ...

homes, homes for orphaned children, free cultural institutes and

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

and education institutes.

Officials

;President *

1939–1976 * Tatiana Schaufuss 1976–1986 * Teymuraz K. Bagration 1986–1992 * Andrew Kotchoubey, PhD 1992–1996 The position of President was eliminated in 1996. ;Chairman *

Plato Malozemoff Plato Malozemoff (born Platon Alexandovich Malozyomov, ; 1909–1997) was a Russian-American engineer, manager, and businessman. Early life and education Malozemoff was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on August 28, 1909, and immigrated to the ...

Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff (June 28, 1930 – December 26, 2011) was an American-born Georgian aristocrat and the New York City highway commissioner during the administrations of John V. Lindsay. Early life Constantine was born in New York City ...

Eugenia Jahnke ''Eugenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It has a worldwide, although highly uneven, distribution in tropical and subtropical regions. The bulk of the approximately 1,100 species occur in the New World tropics, ...

Boris Vanadzin, MD Boris may refer to: People * Boris (given name), a male given name * *List of people with given name Boris * Boris (surname) Arts and media * Boris (band), a Japanese experimental rock trio * ''Boris'' (EP), by Yezda Urfa, 1975 * "Boris" (son ...

1992–2009

References

Sources

Tolstoy Foundation homepage

Orthodox organisations of America

External links

Saint Sergius Learning Center founded in association with Tolstoy Foundation in Valley Cottage
Non-profit organizations based in New York (state) Charities based in New York (state) Organizations established in 1939 Foundations based in the United States Russian communities in the United States Russian Orthodox church buildings in the United States {{edu-org-stub