Ten Food for Life volunteers from St. Petersburg lived in an abandoned canteen in the Zavodskoy district of the city. Former Chechen Prime Minister, Mr. Salambek Khajiev, helped to renovate the bombed-out canteen, equipping it to serve both as a shelter and kitchen. Every night was marked with several flurries of violence in the close neighborhood and most other parts of the city. ”Three months back there was a battle in our backyard,” said Stanlislav Lesovoy, 32, who directs the program. “The Russians were shooting from the ground, just ten meters away from our kitchen, while the Chechens were up high, atop a burnt-out three story building, right in our courtyard!” “The bullets were crisscrossing over our roof for one and a half hours,” explained his colleague, Shula Vasiny, 28, a former banker from St. Petersburg, who has been in Grozny since the beginning of the war. “Both sides were careful to avoid shooting our compound though,” she added. “We were lying on the floor praying, but lucky for us, only a few bullets flew inside.”“I pray that your Food for Life program will expand to bring about a peaceful world.”Salambek Hadjiev(Former – Prime Minister of Chechnya).