We were founded in December 1989 and were intensively involved in many aspects of bringing relief to people in desperate need - many of them survivors of Ceausescu's appalling regime.
We fund Romanian partner
charities to run various long-term community based relief projects. Plus we also run our own charity projects
Home Care of the ElderlyAn evaluation by the Romanian authorities said the programme was "unique in Romania in the high standards of care and dedication to the old people who are cared for" Many elderly people also attend our Day Centre. This was renamed The Dr Stefan Ciobanu Day Centre in honour of our friend and colleague, Stefan Ciobanu, who was killed in a car crash. Stefan inspired and led the project. It will remain a great legacy for a good man who died so tragically young.
We're pleased to report that a related project Milly's Village helping the elderly, in nearby Buhusi, (which we don't fund) has "Twinned" with Alderney's Connaught Care Home in the Channel Islands. Colin Williams, Treasurer of Milly's Foundation Alderney's Dementia Charity, hopes that sharing plans on items such as dementia training will be of benefit to both operations". You can see a newsletter on their work here The project is managed by our sister charity FSC. Their related newsletter is here
Our long serving Director of Programmes, Julia Smyth, retired a few years ago but kindly agreed to visit the projects in Romania and report on their progress. Checkout her "warts and all" reports here. They make for interesting reading for anyone interested in aid intervention theory and practice FundingOver the past 20 years we have spent millions of pounds on our charity work in Romania, as well as many gifts-in-kind We also paid for various direct charity expenses in the UK such as sponsoring the costs of expert volunteers. We fund various Romanian charities and groups directly who are delivering help to those most in need through various programmes. In particularOur partner charity Fundatia de Sprijin Comunitar - The Community Support FoundationWhen we helped our Romanian employees set up their own autonomous charity we would have been very surprised - and thrilled - to see how much they have achieved. Here's how they summarised it:
In Bucharest we continue to support the Budimex, a major Children’s Hospital.
The Relief Fund Team
|