The Romanian Aid Foundation

Newsletter, Spring 2007

New Horley Warehouse

In the previous newsletter we promised you a bit more information about the work in Romania. However, before we do that we should confirm that we are now operating from premises in Horley, in co-operation with Furnistore. The registered address remains as before, but the operational address for Saturday deliveries and lorry loading is Unit 10, Bridge Industrial Estate, Balcombe Road, Horley, RH6 9HU. Normal opening times still apply - 09:30 to 13:30 each Saturday. We dispatched a full load to Dorohoi in February and two more in April, one from Lampeter and the other from Horley. This latter load was the first from our new warehouse and the lorry was loaded in only 3 hours. Many thanks to all those who lent a hand, at both locations.

Below we show a financial breakdown for the work of Asociatia Neemia for 2006; the figures have been converted to £Stirling for easier understanding.

The Annual Report from Asociatia Neemia

First of all I would like to thank you for all the support you offered to the work of Asociatia Neemia during the year 2006 and before that. All the goods that you donated to us : clothes, bedding, food, toiletries, toys, crockery, furniture, detergent, disinfectant, Christmas boxes, computers, photocopiers, bicycles, etc - there were all very good and represented a big help for so many families in this area. We have registered many new families during the year 2006 which represent about 25% from the total number of families that we helped which is over 2,000. The families we helped have are under the minimum of living level and our help is very important for them. There are still a lot of desperate people because of the conditions they are living in and for many people it is harder now than before.

OFFICE: The AN office was opened to the public Monday to Friday from 9.00 to 15.30 where myself, Maria, Ionela and Laurentiu are working - interviewing families, accounting papers, pricing up, donation forms, repair of electrical items, etc. We manage to replace the windows of the office which were very bad and we were loosing a lot of heat. We also replaced one of the internal doors with one which were sent from you. The accounting software that we have bought last year is good for the work and for keeping the accounts at the office, Ionela managed to learn it and finding it very useful.

SHOP: It has been a good year for the shop. We had very good income during the year, which helped us with all the running cost of AN. The shop is opened Monday to Friday from 9.00 to 17.00 and Saturday from 9.00 to 13.00. We tried to sell within 10% of what we received from donation. With the proceeds from the shop we also were able to concrete all around the warehouse, to replace the two metal doors at the warehouse, and to change the windows of the office. Since the shop has been renovated, it looks much better, we have more customers and the income is bigger. We use the new room in the shop to price up the clothes now which releases a lot of space in the office. We have heating in the shop now which make the customs stay longer in the shop if they want and the ladies are working in better conditions now.

WAREHOUSE: There is also a lot of work going on during the day at the warehouse: sorting the clothes, preparing the boxes for families, distribution of food, disinfectant, etc. We concreted all around the warehouse and made new metal doors which make a big difference in the winter. We had a good harvest of corn this autumn; we will start this month to make flour to donate to families. For this year we would like to put the fence up on one side at the warehouse and to do the floor of the top level of the warehouse if possible.

This year AN has been accredited which means that our charity will have more credibility as an organisation and that it is recognised as a social service supplier. The conditions that we are working now require more paper work, so we asked Cornelius's daughter, Raluka, to help us sometimes to register some data on the computer.

The work of Asociatia Neemia has grown very much in the last few years, we are the most known charity in the town and I think that with your help we managed to help a lot of families, they still need our help, we still need your support to continue this work, otherwise everything may stop. Getting into EU to people here didn't improve at all the conditions of life and our office is still full every day with people asking for help. We will try to improve our work here and to be more efficient for the poor families and for those who need us.

Thank you very much for everything and may God Bless You !

From Asociatia Neemia, Benoni Mirauta

Asociatia Neemia - Financial Summary for 2006

For Customs purposes, all the aid sent to Romania has to be given a notional value. For clothing this is currently 67p/kg; for tinned food it is £1/kg. During 2006 Asociatia Neemia received donated items with a inventory value of £40,000. This was made up of seven lorry-loads of food, clothing, household items and Christmas gifts. These were donated through RoAF in Horley and Lampeter, RANI in Northern Ireland, and friends and supporters across the UK, and included consignments which arrived directly from the Isle of Man and Eastbourne. Of this, just under 10% (£3,885) went to AN's shop in Dorohoi for sale to cover the costs of operating in Romania.

All the rest was given away to needy people with Dorohoi and the surrounding area. The actual amount given away in 2006 amounted to some £43,000 because the items in stock at the end of the year was less than that at the beginning of January. The stock comprised items yet to be donated, such as summer clothing which is inappropriate to donate during the winter or bulk food supplies that are distributed on a year-round basis.

Around 3,000 individual donations were given out last year so each donation had a nominal value of approximately £15. In local terms, this is equivalent to about 1 week's pay on the minimum wage (but remember that most of those registered with AN are living on much less than this).

A proportion of the incoming stock is sold through AN's shop in Dorohoi. Some people have asked whether the shop fits into the original vision for AN. The shop provides the funds to run the aid distribution work, as well as providing some employment. In 2006, the stock sold amounted to less than 10% of that received, with an inventory value of some £3,750. Selling this stock produced an income of £20,155 which was used as shown below. It also created a small surplus which has been used to help people in need, with medical or fuel bills, etc.

INCOME	RON	GBP (£)	%
Shop-derived income after deduction of rent, taxes and fuel	102,790	20,155	80 %
Other income
EXPENDITURE	RON	GBP (£)	%
Salaries, including taxes, after deduction of sponsorship	39,396	7,725	30 %
Customs, accounts and other statutory approvals	20,214	3,913	16 %
Asociatia Neemia transport	15,285	2,997	12 %
Office expenses, including lighting and heating	13,183	2,585	10 %
Warehouse expenses, lighting and maintenance	9,351	1,833	7 %
Cash donations to persons in need (fuel, medical bills)	6,972	1,367	5 %
Miscellaneous expenditure (eg, staff training)	25,989	5,096	20 %

Many thanks to all those who have made donations of time, goods and money to help this work continue.

A result, or two!

You may recall that our January newsletter contained some photos of the gift box distribution last Christmas. We are very pleased to tell you that some supporters here have offered to sponsor one of the families shown in those pictures. The family has been in desperate need, living in their part-finished house without running water or electricity. Thanks to the sponsors, the family now has a small but regular income, and we are looking at the feasibility of connecting power to the house so that they can have a water pump and continue with work on the house.

Those of you with even longer memories may recall the incubators that we took to Dorohoi hospital some 8 years ago. Peter & Lesley, who run the Centre of Hope in Dorohoi, were delighted to report that a sick premature baby born to one of their regular visitors is now doing well thanks to one of those incubators supplied by RoAF.

Forthcoming Events

Duck Race - usually the third Saturday in June.

Jazz Concert with Dennis Hickman, Saturday 30th June 2007 at Oakwood School, Horley.

Choral evening, with Crawley Salvation Army Band

Look out for details

This newsletter is published on behalf of the Romanian Aid Foundation and Asociatia Neemia. For further information or to be added to the newsletter mailing list please use our response page or write to us using the contact details below:

The Romanian Aid Foundation

179 Albert Road, Horley, Surrey RH6 7HS, UK;

email: info @ roaf.org

The Romanian Aid Foundation is UK Registered Charity No. 1060828.

Asociatia Neemia

Str Spiru Haret nr 9, Dorohoi, Botosani 6850, Romania.

Telephone 0231 610059; email: Beni @ roaf.org

Link to this newsletter in pdf format ... oOo ... Link to previous newsletter: January 2007