Wednesday, January 20, 2016

What's new with FFR in 2016?

Firm Foundations Romania was founded in 2010, and since then, we have had the same website. We are so excited that a change is coming very soon, as we will be launching a new look, new logo, and new website. Many thanks to Paul Giobbi, who is on our Board of Directors and is the founder of the company Zumasys, for allowing his employee Randy Joyce to dedicate his time to creating our new site. And thank you to Randy for all his hard work in making our site wonderful.

We know you will love the new site as much as we do!
Please stay tuned for the launch!

Love, FFR Leadership Team


Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Entertainment in the hospital

For those of you who know Steffi (vice president of Firm Foundations Romania), you probably also know her daughter Beca. Beca is originally from the Roma village Budila where we host our Kid's Club and After School Program. We've known her biological family for years and have had the privilege of working with her younger brother Robert. For reasons unknown to us, Robert has been in the Children's Hospital for the past few days, but he is still in good spirits! While Robert is bringing lots of laughs for the volunteers, we are glad that there are volunteers to brighten his day and give him the attention that every child desires.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

The New Year comes with plenty of “News” for FFR!

New things are happening in 2016, and we wanted to share a few of these happenings with you:

New Volunteer Position: We are looking for FFR Ambassadors, worldwide!


·         Keep up to date with FFR’s current happenings
·         Look for and solicit opportunities to promote FFR in your area
·         Connect with past and new volunteers in your area
·         Help with fundraisers in your area

New Program Name: We are changing the name of our Internship Program to Discipleship Program! 


Applications for the 2016/2017 program are now available. For more information, please visit: http://www.firmfoundationsromania.com/FFRInternship.php

New Social Media: We are updating our logo and website! 


Mid-January will be the big unveiling of the new site, which will also feature our new logo. We are very excited to share this with you soon!


We are extremely thankful for a wonderful 2015, and we praise God for continuing to bless FFR. We know that everything that is being done in Romania is because of Him. Please pray with us that 2016 will see lives being changed in Romania and hearts being led to God. We are thankful for your continued support.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Shampoo to the Rescue

We've all been there - you walk into your hotel room, take a look around, is there a fridge? What about a safe? How about an iron or a hair dryer? The hotel you book will determine the amenities that come with it.

One thing is almost always constant, however, and those are the travel size shampoos, conditioners, soaps and lotions that come nicely wrapped in your hotel bathroom.

Whether or not you decide to use these items or pack them up and save them for later matters not, they are a hot commodity simply because they are handy and easy to bring along.

We're going to let you in on a little secret, though. Those soaps, shampoos, lotions and conditioners are the perfect size for the bundles we put together for our Mom's Project.

Maybe you don't use the toiletry items provided, or maybe you pack them thinking you'll use them later but simply end up with a stockpile that you don't know what to do with. We're asking that you consider us the next time these convenient shampoos and soaps come in to your possession.

If you are interested in donating these travel size items to Firm Foundations Romania to be used in the bundles that we hand out to the mothers in our Mom's Project, please contact Heather   Zorzi at:
Heather@FirmFoundationsRomania.com.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Party With A Purpose

Tis the season for eggnog, cookies and parties galore. It's also the season for family, giving and goodwill. We were blessed to be the recipient of such goodwill in Raleigh, NC where an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party was held in honor of Firm Foundations Romania.
 
The Zorzi family - Heather and Abrianna Zorzi being volunteers for FFR - threw a lovely house party, inviting all of their friends to come celebrate the season while also giving back.
 
Food and drink were flowing, neighbors chatted and played games and a good time was had by all. Halfway through the evening, Sarah Vienna, Heather Zorzi and Jennifer Peterkin were able to share about FFR and sing one of Sarah's songs, "Seeds For Destiny".
 
 

Through something as simple and fun as a house party we were able to get people together, share about Romania, raise funds and recruit new volunteers!

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Part Of The Family, By Katie Greiner

Volunteering in the Brasov Children’s Hospital, we have the opportunity to care for so many precious babies and toddlers. With some of these little ones, we don’t know their names, where they come from, or anything about them. With others, we know their families well and have watched their older siblings grow up in and out of the hospital when they were small. Whatever the background, though, we are there to fill in the gap and love them for as long as they are in the hospital.

 
 One family we have all gotten to know well over the past few years, is that of Constantin and Stefan. Constantin is now about 4 ½ years old and Stefan recently turned 2. Many of our volunteers will remember these boys as they were in and out of the hospital many times over their first couple of years. Stefan still comes in now and then whenever he is sick, but not so much as when he was small. They also have a 12 year old brother, Alex, who has been in the hospital a few times, and a 17 year old brother.

One of the things that has set this family apart is how they will all come together to drop off or pick up one of the boys, and so we have been able to meet the parents, grandmother, and oldest brother at these times. We would greet them whenever we saw them, and often bring clothes, shoes, and toys for the boys. Over the past year or so, we’ve gotten to know them more and they now come to our office to see us anytime they are at the hospital. There is a small box of toy cars that we keep on hand for visits like this, and the boys know that they can choose one any time they stop by. The family is very poor, so the clothes and shoes that we are able to give them from the donations that we receive has been such a blessing to them and they are so grateful. How wonderful to be able to fill bags of clothes for them, put new shoes on their feet, and bundle them up in warm coats and hats!

Watching these boys grow up and getting to know all of their family has been one of my best experiences here. Constantin was born 1 week before I moved here in 2011, so I have been able to measure my time here by his growth. I had no idea when I first met him as a little baby that he and his family would become so special to me and that I would get to watch him grow up outside of the hospital setting. That I would someday be “Tanti Caty” to him and his brothers, and a friend to their mom. Hearing the three younger boys running towards our office and knock at the door, excitedly calling my name, and then just about getting knocked over by them throwing themselves into my arms for a hug makes my heart burst with love every time. It is such an amazing gift to be here and be an Auntie to these boys!

Thank you to all of our volunteers who have given your love and time to these precious boys and to so many other little ones in the hospital. If any of you are considering volunteering in the future, come on out! These babies and kids need your love and will change you forever. 





 

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Romania Fara Orfani by Sarah Peters

Sarah Peters is one of FFR's interns. She, along with fellow intern Izzy Hathaway, manage the volunteer apartment, help organize donations, supervise shifts in the hospital and lend helping hands wherever they are needed. We are so thankful for our interns!
 

This November, Izzy, Rachel and I had the privilege of attending a conference organized by the alliance Romania Without Orphans. At the conference, we heard from Romanian politicians, a director of social services, social workers, families who have adopted, charity workers, church pastors and young adults raised in institutions, now supporting other orphaned and abandoned children.
Here discussions revolved around these views:
  •  Children should not be raised by the state, but in a family.
  • Adoption is not currently viewed as a priority by many in Romania, so we need to motivate a culture of adoption across Romania, to care for the children in institutional care.
  •  All children have a voice, and where some children may have lost theirs, we should help them find it.
  •  Children who have experienced trauma in their lives need love, support and safety - all children deserve that.
  •  Supporting families so they don’t have to leave the country for work, or abandon their children, putting preventative and early intervention models in place.
  •  ‘Because God cares about the orphaned and abandoned children, ‘si noua ne pasa’, we also care.
It was a wonderful opportunity for us to network with other people working in Romania with the same heart, and it was so inspiring to see so many people, especially Romanians, committing to working towards 'Romania fara orfani', Romania without orphans.