The Romanian Aid Foundation & Asociatia Neemia

Despite the Billingshurst warehouse being effectively empty in mid January, stocks there have built up to the point where we have about half a lorry-load already. We have once again been surprised by the generosity of our donors, including an offer of unclaimed bedding from a local laundry, all freshly laundered and bagged up, plus a stock of T-shirts from another source. Our thanks to you all.

In Dorohoi February has been the usual sort of month, with normal donations to families of clothing, bedding, white duvets, pushchairs, cots, and food. We still have some tinned food from Horley – maybe 150 kg left – which has been very good and useful. What we have left might last for other two weeks, but we still have oil, rice from Wales and flour given to us by another charity in Botosani. We have bought some frozen pizza from a local producer. These pizzas are very economic, at about 20p per pizza and proved very popular last year when we donated them to families. They can be cooked on the type of wood-fired stoves that most of our families use and make a welcome change in their diet. In addition we can use some of them for the residents at Casa Neemia.

At Casa Neemia the residents were more involved in helping with garden and also in the kitchen. Our neighbour agreed for us to grow vegetables on her land as well so they will be plenty to keep them occupied once the season starts. We have been getting the CN boys to help with some work at warehouse; tidying the garden, cleaning the yard and repairing the driveway, plus chopping and delivering wood to families. These activities seem to have resulted in an improvement in their attitude.

We donated wood to about 25 families, plus the usual donations of money for rent, medicine, gas bottle refills, transport to hospital, etc. So even an ordinary month keeps us busy!

This month’s featured photos show some of the residents at Casa Neemia at work:

• Preparing the polytunnel for this year’s vegetables
• Collecting tree cuttings for donation as cooking fuel
• Repairing the driveway at the warehouse

Photo Gallery: Click on any of the photos for enlargements, more details or similar photos.

Last month’s performance statistics

These statistics give a snapshot of our aid-related activities last month.

Stats notes:
– Joiners are new registrants this month, Leavers are are those whose latest recorded donation was 12 months ago.
– Some households may receive more than one donation during a month (eg, repeat donations of food).
– Items shown as 0 or as “…” are awaiting final returns for the month.

Previous month, February 2020