Asociatia Neemia

working with

The Romanian Aid Foundation

Newsletter,  April 2008

    This newsletter has been published and a print version sent out to those on our mailing list.  If you would like to be added to the mailing list then please go to our 'Further Info' page using the link on the left. Below we reproduce the text of the newsletter for those who prefer this medium.

The Annual Report from Asociatia Neemia 

Because Romania went into the EU in January 2007, the year started with quite a lot of pressure from the legislative changes that were imposed but we were expecting them. The changes in legislation were more addressed towards the standards of quality of products, safety conditions of work, customs protection and many others that, in practice, didn’t change at all. From our charity point of view, the changes which were in our concern are the customs taxes (that we do not have to pay any more). This helps because it used to cost us quite a lot and also involved a lot of work and stress. Also a good thing is that we can receive a wider variety of items now. 

For the families and other needy people that we help, getting into EU didn’t improve their lives at all, actually many of their situations got worse. In these circumstances the role of our charity become more important than before, the name of our charity is better known now and more families applied to us to receive help. During the year we registered many new families and most of the families that were registered in the previous years have been helped also this year. In total there were about 1,500 families that have received help at least once in this year and we made over 3,000 individual donations during the year. (Typically, a donation will comprise two boxes of clothing, a tray of tinned food and some detergent.)

The families are from Dorohoi and from the villages around. Dorohoi is not an industrial area and not many people have invested in this part of the country and it is the poorest area in Romania. Generally the need from these people comes because: they do not have any income, have many children, have medical problems (handicaps) and can’t work, are very old and do not have somebody to help them, come out from orphanages and do not have anywhere to go and not many people would like to employ them, etc. 

There are some other charities and churches that we collaborate with, which work in Botosani County, where we’ve made some donation of tinned food, clothes, bedding etc. for helping their work. For the past few years we have collaborated with some social medical institution (like hospitals – where ill people without homes are treated and where they live) from our county; we usually help them with tinned food and some bedding. We also collaborated with the charity “Centre of Hope”, and with the Town Hall of Dorohoi and other villages, regarding the situation of some families that need help, and use our information and facilities for making the right decision in the way we help them.

All the good things that we have done for the families were possible just because of your support and I really want to transmit you all the joy and happiness that we brought into their lives. I would like to thank you very much for all your kindness, effort, hard work and all the support we received from you during this year.   

Life in Dorohoi

During this year I started to do more visits to the families that we assist, which helped me a lot in seeing how the families are living and to have a complete picture about them. There are hundreds of other families with difficult situations like those I have presented, where we intervened and helped the family. In all our activities AN staff collaborated together and used all our skills, abilities and knowledge for the benefit of those who are in need. We are so pleased that we could help so many people and could bring a bit of comfort and health in them lives. We have to continue this work as it seems that more families are in need and difficulties. The Romanians and the authorities here do not yet have the possibility to support this work financially or with goods. 

Link to the situation snapshots

Office

The office of AN is opened Monday to Friday from 09.00 to 15.30. It is the place where Maria and I interview people who come to ask for help, make all the donation forms, Ionela is keeping records and the accounts, Laurentiu is preparing the computers and other electrical goods for donation. 

Here we bring the goods which are prepared to be donated to families who are registered for that day. We also donate the food from the office. It is a very busy place sometimes and it is a very good facility that we have for doing our work, also it is situated in a good place in the town.    

Warehouse 

The work at the warehouse starts at 08.00 o’clock when Cornelius and Iulian start to prepare the boxes for the families who are registered to receive help for that day. Then at 09.00 o’clock Ionela comes to sort which clothes are suitable for shop and which for families. I’m pleased with how the work is going on at the warehouse and how we managed to use the space during the year. 

The ceiling of the ground floor area needs some attention, especially in the places where we do not have the floor on the top. We hope to be able to repair part of the floor which is very bad. On the land at the warehouse we had sunflowers, which we used to make cooking oil; about 220 litres that we have donated to families.

Shop 

The income of the shop was very good last year. We managed to cover all the costs for running AN and also we helped a lot of poor people with money for medicine, heating, taxes, etc during the year. We used about 8% of the stock of goods from the donation of goods that we received during the year. 

Having the extra room at the shop for pricing up and keeping stock for shop has made a big difference this year and it is a big help for our work. Also the fact that we had all the time a reserve of clothes to put in the shop and we could all the time have new stock, it kept our customers all the time interested.

These tables give a summary of income and expenditure, together with their equivalents for last year. The figures have been converted to stirling (GBP) for the benefit of those who are not conversant with the Romanian currency.

Joy in a Box, 2007

Details for the 2008 'Joy in a Box' scheme should be published in June.  In the meantime, take a look at last year's report and photos.

Calendar for 2008 

Lorry 2008#01 - 2nd February, from Horley.

Lorry 2008#02 - Bulk food and bedding,  22nd February.

Lorry 2008#03 - 10th April, from south Wales.

Lorry 2008#04 - Early Summer Lorry - first Saturday of May.

Launch of 'Joy in a Box' for 2008 in June.

Jazz Concert with Dennis Hickman, first Saturday in July, (subject to confirmation).

GLIA Holiday Club in Dorohoi - 4th to 7th August.

Duck Race - Saturday 22nd September, River Mole, Horley.

Lorry 2008#?? - Target date for Christmas Boxes - first Saturday of October.

Harp Concert with Keziah Thomas, late November or early December, at St Francis Church, Horley.

Lorry 2008#?? - Christmas Lorry - last Saturday of November.

 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 

Oaklea, Temple Bar, Lampeter, Ceredigion, SA48 8BQ

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

Asociatia Neemia

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

This newsletter is  © Romanian Aid Foundation, April 2008.  

Link to this newsletter in pdf format ... oOo  ... Link to previous newsletter:  Jan 2008