Childheart Foundation

The Childheart Foundation, consisting of a doctor, a lawyer, teachers, people employed by the local authority and 40 volunteers, was founded in March 1997 with two important targets:

a) The first target group.

Making life easier for mentally and phisically disabled children, helping them integrate in society, ensuring the proper medical help for them. In the spring of 1998 we established a therapy institution for the mentally disabled children between the age of 6-18. At the moment there are 20 children at our institution. We bring them in daily from town and from the villages in the neighbourhood (20 km). There are a few very disabled children whom we can`t take to the institution because of the lack of proper means of transport. We visit them once a week in their homes and help them as much as we can. Those children who come to the institution have program until 5 pm. In the morning they study in conformity with their abilities. After lunch they play or relax. A speech therapist, a psychologist, a remedial teacher and a physio-therapist work with them regularly. In summer we also organize therapy and recreational camps for them.

We would like to establish a therapy center for helping the disabled children and their families integrate into public education and social life. The center would seat 50 physically and mentally disabled children. We have made the blueprint of the center and we have bought the building plot. The center would provide high capacity medical, social work, physiologic, speech therapeutic and physiotherapeutic services. Its main aim is developing and integrating the children in the quickest and the most efficient way. Another basic activity of the center would be: establishing workshops for the children, especially for those who haven`t been treated before or who can`t be schooled because of their age.

We would like to develop their abilities in these workshops (pottery, weaving, carving, candle-making, computer science) and help them become useful members of society . We are in desperate need of special means of transport suitable for the very disabled children to take them to doctors, treatments etc.

b) The second target group.

Helping the children from socially disadvantaged families, making their everyday life easier, bettering their living standard. We are taking up the problems of the socially disadvantaged children now. We have regularly shared out aid- clothes, food, vitamins- but now we would like to deal with their problems more seriously. We have started a program for illiterate gypsy children who wish to learn writing and reading. The local authority gave us a building for a term of 25 years. This building would be suitable for running a free kitchen and a daytime home. Starting the kitchen and building a rehabilitation-therapeutic center are the two main and most important projects of the foundation.

Our foundation struggles with financial problems because we don`t know any non-profit organisation that would ensure the financial background for these projects. Therefore, in case you know any association or community who would help such projects in Romania, we ask you to send us information about them.

Last updated:    June 2000

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