In December 2005 we opened a community center offering services to underprivileged children and their families in the Bistriţa area.

The Need: Many of the families in these poor areas are crowded into old, dirty one room apartments with no running water. Parents tend to be poorly educated and have little opportunity of employment, while their children are left chiefly to their own devices. In this environment, children often fail to attend school regularly and almost never complete their homework. It is not uncommon to find teenagers who do not know how to read and have dropped out of school all together. Even those children who attend school face large classes with little individual attention and exasperated teachers.

The Solution: Our community center provides:

For children:

• Afternoon homework help
• One warm meal a day
• Vitamins
• Showers, soap, and lice shampoo
• School supplies
• Clothing for school
• Morning daycare

Future Plans: We hope to expand our program to offer:

For children:

• Preschool program

For older teens and adults:

• Literacy classes
• Evening parenting classes
• Advice and assistance finding employment