Weekly update 42/21

Last Monday hospital beds came in again, in the past week a total of five loads,
luckily "emergency shelter" was found for them. There are more to come, just at a time when the demand for these from Romania has never been so high, this is a good thing. The first 27 beds have already been shipped.

In Weesp we were able to pick up a large batch of incontinence material and other hygiene products that same Monday. A nice batch of food was loaded in Amsterdam on Tuesday.

Wednesday, October 20, a trailer was loaded for Viorel and his team in Deaj, half of a trailer, this time with quite a bit of food. Henk Muller had received a batch of figs from a wholesaler from Rotterdam on Tuesday afternoon. Early Wednesday morning a volunteer drove to Rotterdam to pick them up and the same day they were loaded into the Romanian truck in Broek op Langedijk. For Breaza we mainly loaded hospital beds, Imola was even asked for beds from a hospital in Bucharest. Monday morning 25 October will be the first unloading in Breaza and then in Deaj.

On Wednesday we were able to pick up preserves in Driel and chocolate spread in Enschede, all beautiful and valuable products that we will partly use in the Christmas packages. On Wednesday there were more pick-up jobs and we still had to stack hospital beds. It was all quite a lot of work again, but as far as I can see, everyone does it with pleasure.

Here the link to pictures of the loading.

It is worth mentioning that our part-time volunteers from the Prinsenstichting are again busy repacking a batch of candy that we received in bulk packaging. They are working hard in Zaandijk to pack this in small bags that we can put in the Christmas packages. It's great that they take up these kinds of jobs so enthusiastically every time to help other people with it.

Cristi from Botosani again sent pictures of the new building, it gives him a lot of stress but also beautiful moments. Of course it all costs a lot of money, but before he got the bricks from a wholesaler for free, now also the window frames. He was just negotiating the discount percentage with a window frame factory in Oradea when a friend called from Germany. This man imports products from Romania, including window frames, and has decided to deliver windows to Cristi and not send him an invoice. So another nice stroke of luck.

The distribution of our but also relief goods from others continues in the meantime. It is to be hoped that it will not be a harsh winter for these people.

Here is the link to photos.

Reghina from Ticau has diligently started handing out the things we brought and the
potatoes and vegetables from the farm. The latter products are very welcome.

Here is the link to photos.

Toth Attila also sent pictures again and again underlined the importance of his "food bank" during this difficult time.

Here is the link to photos.

Domien and Inci from Salard have sent a newsletter. Good to read, it gives a nice picture of the situation in a village like Salard at the moment. A couple with small children left by bike from the Netherlands to Salard!! After their arrival there they continued to travel by train and they are now in Macedonia, nice to read.

Here is the link to their newsletter.

Here is the link to the cycling adventure.

On Tuesday I leave for Romania together with Nico Groot and Gerrit Beetsma, we visit Attila on the farm in Marghita and go to Breaza, Saturday we will be home again. Despite the increasing number of infections, it is still code yellow for travelers from the Netherlands, according to the travel advice for Romania from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

With Attila we will discuss, among other things, how many potatoes and vegetables we can make available to our contacts to distribute among the well-known target group. Last winter it became clear how important potatoes are as a basic food, the aid workers on site were happy that they could hand them out.

The preparations for the package promotion are well underway, we will pack on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 November. Further messages will follow shortly..

Max Veenstra of St. Hirf received a message that 72 pallets of face masks were available for charities at a large company. Max was able to get them to bring a trailer with 34 pallets to our distribution point in Marghita. So not only free mouth caps but also no transport costs. From Marghita we will together ensure that they are in the right place in Romania and perhaps in neighboring countries such as Moldova and the Ukraine. Working together with Mr. Veenstra does bring life to the brewery.

You will have noticed that Covid-19 is putting the Romanian population to the test right now. We try to help where possible.

On Wednesday there will be loading for Cristi in Botosani and there are again a number of pick-up jobs.