Fundatia Link Romania Moldavia

The work in Iasi began in the early 1990’s when Mark Shipperlee and Chris Chatfield started to bring lorries with different sorts of aid for general distribution. After a while links were made with other charities and different projects started – including shoeboxes.
In 1997 it was decided that a local charity, a daughter charity of Link Romania UK, was needed to handle all the projects, so the first office opened in Iasi, and Arpi started to work as Mark’s assistant. In 1998 all the legal paperwork was completed, and the Charity became official. It was called Fundatia Link Romania Moldavia, because Moldavia is the area around Iasi, and the ethos of the charity is:
“To bring God’s love by work, action and material help to the poorest and most needy people, whatever their race, colour or creed, in and around Iasi, northeast Romania.”

1) The sick children in the orphanage at Poeni
2) The Hospital renovation work started in 1999 with a team of ex-orphanage and homeless young men. It still continues, now with a professional team, and 3 sections are complete. Two years ago a special playroom for sick children opened, funded and still supported by the MOB.
3) The street paper “Spune” started in 1999 and FLRM published it for 2 years – then it was passed to the sister charity Link Romania in Timisoara. The staff of FLRM had come into contact with various poor people who acted as vendors of the paper – and 2 social workers helped them with ID problems, healthcare and clothes. Many of these people lived in the ShantyTown – a collection of mudbrick shacks outside the city, built by people who had lost their homes through debt, or folk who had moved in from the villages.

How the Projects Developed

Family Support and Sponsorships. During the time of “Spune” a sponsorship scheme for some of the poor families involved was started, which provided them with a food parcel every month, and help with clothes and healthcare etc. This has grown, and there are now about 30 families being helped in this way. Some houses have been repaired, 11 families rehoused, medicines provided and in addition 12 families have had polytunnels (plastic greenhouses) and plants given to them so they can grow their own food. Some families have had a pig or chickens given to them. And 10 wells have been sunk for fresh water. About 20 families received wood for winter heating over the last two years.
Sponsorship is set at £15 per month, and each sponsor receives regular reports on the family’s situation. The cost of a 40 sq metre polytunnel is £130 and a well up to 10 metres deep is £240. A well-grown pig can cost £100 and laying hens £10 each.

Education – Classrooms - Iasi. In time the staff of FLRM became aware that many of the children of these families did not attend State kindergartens (4-7 years) or Schools because their parents could not afford to buy them decent clothes and shoes, or pay for the exercise books, pens pencils that they needed. So in 2001 a small room below the FLRM office was rented, and a class for teenage boys started. A year later – in 2002 - this expanded into a Primary Class for 8 children, and a secondary class for 8 teenage boys. In 2003 another special class for girls opened in another room. Two of the Primary School girls have earned diplomas for excellent work for two consecutive years.

Education – Shanty Town Kindergarten and Homework Club - Iasi. Seeing the success of the children in the Classrooms, the Shanty Town parents asked FLRM to also help their younger children. A small room in one of their houses was offered for rent, and at the same time a Brazilian lady, Alice, arrived in Iasi, believing that God had called her work with the children of Romania’s poor. The kindergarten began in January 2003, and later Alice was joined by Gabi, a University student studying English, and Helen. Helen has many years experience of working with young children both in the UK and in Romania, and is now married to a Romanian. In 2004 a Homework Club started in the same small room, primarily to continue helping the children who had passed through the kindergarten and were now at State School. Other children soon joined, and there is a waiting list. The children in the Classrooms and Homework Club have all their expenses covered by monthly sponsorships of £20 each. The kindergarten is mainly financed by the British School in The Hague.

Village Community Centres
The work at Erbiceni began when a sponsored family (Dan & Viorica Gangu) moved into a FLRM house there. The small cottage nearby opened as a Homework Club in January 2004, under the care of Dan & Viorica. Some evangelism is carried out in the village by Filadelfia Church from Iasi.
Slobozia is a gypsy village with high illiteracy and low moral standards. Evangelistic work began there by one of the residents, Viorel Badarau, several years ago. In January 2004 the FLRM kindergarten, run by Viorel and his daughter Beatrice, opened in a small purpose-built room, and regular Bible Studies for adults and the young people also take place there.

Declaratia de misiune

Link Romania Moldavia Foundation is a
Romanian Christian charity promoting a culture of dignity and respect by acknowledging the human potential within every person and encouraging personal autonomy and self-sustainability.

Fundaţia
Link Romania Moldavia este o organizaţie
creştin-umanitară care promovează dezvoltarea unei culturi a
demnităţii şi respectului, prin recunoaşterea potenţialului uman şi încurajarea autonomiei şi independenţei fiecărei persoane.