Since lockdown lifted in Romania, the staff at the Secret Garden in Arad have seen demand for their help rise considerably.  They are doing what they can to help in a very difficult situation.  Local support has been growing, which is great to see, and they receive many donations which they can pass on to families and homeless people.

Philip, the manager at the Secret Garden, writes:

The family support program is going well, with new people seeking help and people who we lost
touch with returning. We have been helping to support a family who have recently lost their father,
he passed away and the children live in the shanty town. The children drop in and spend time at the
centre, if we have clean clothes for them we are able to help them with that and a sponsor has been
helping them with groceries. Another Mother (19) who has been visiting, she used to come to us as a
child, now she has three young children of her own. Her husband has abandoned her and the three
children and is currently living in Ireland. She has occasionally been sleeping on the street or if
possibly with relatives.
We have had a huge number of people seeking help at the centre, with 20 news people signing up
for help. We have heard many sad stories of people struggling to cope at this time. People with a
pension as little as 11 pounds per month. Many people are appreciate the food and the time to sit
and chat.

Many of the homeless people are kept busy in the summer, they have been coming for the
food program. A number of the homeless girls are pregnant at the moment, and there is a
lot of issues with drug use that we have noticed.

Due to the issues with the COVID-19 we have been giving the food out in take away containers. This
is working well as we are able to do much better portion control which reduces waste to a minimum.
We have also had help from people locally and abroad with providing the food for the meals. The
number of meals we have given out has gone from 20 portions a day to around 40.

We have had a lot of donations this past month. Clothes and food from Ireland, socks from the USA.
A financial donation towards food for the take away meals. Another local person has been buying
what is needed for one meal per week. We have also had a financial donation from a church in Spain
and Hungary.

Beki and Randy Kerkman are organising a fundraising event for Vis de Copil at Christmas.

The campaign is called “A Brighter Christmas”

More details and donations can be made at: https://abrighterchristmas.com and
https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-brighter-christmas-romania