Weekly update 5/23

We have had a special week, with the usual but also unusual events.

It all started on Wednesday, February 1 with a visit from Ralph van Soomeren director of Rabobank NH Noord and Gerrit Beetsma account manager at the bank. Together they handed us a check for an amount of no less than € 17.500,-.

To be spent for our actions for the people in Ukraine, such as, for example, the soup kitchen project in Chernivtsi, which is often mentioned in this blog.

Ralph expressed his admiration and respect for our work. For us it was a great opportunity to give him a little more insight into the work that the foundation has been doing for about thirty years. Perhaps we can work together more often in the future. We discussed, among other things, PLMA in the RAI where we can collect an enormous amount of food on Wednesday, May 24, 2023. As experience experts now know, this requires many people who know how to get things done.

After that we immediately started loading a truck with destination Breaza. We were able to load very nice and useful articles again. St. Manna has been able to contribute to this, just like many other sponsors.

It all went smoothly and at the end of the afternoon everyone went home with a satisfied feeling.

Here is the link to photos.

Cristi from Botosani sent pictures and an explanation from Igor from Ukraine and the loading of goods from the depot in Botosani. In some of these photos they are making food packages from, among other things, the potatoes and vegetables from the farm in Marghita. This with the intention of bringing it to people in Russian-occupied territory at night. Unbelievable all where the goods we send end up. Not without danger, the Russians are preparing another attack wave it seems, this morning in the news was one that they are attacking the center of Kharkov.

Here is the link to photos.

The truck we loaded on Wednesday had a delay at the border. For some time now, a team from Bucharest has been active at the various borders in Romania working on behalf of the OMS, who.int/romania. Their task is to monitor food safety, health and the environment. They also have to ensure that no wrong substances enter the country from abroad.

The driver of the truck with our load has been subjected to an extensive check by employees of this organization. The doors and the sails had to be opened and samples were taken. They found some medical items out of date, a few bags of clothing would also be a problem, not clean enough to standard. Relatively small things but big enough to deny the truck access to Romania.

Fortunately, there was a cool-headed driver on the truck. He waited a while for the special team to leave, knowing that these people only work from nine to five. Then the papers etc. presented to the normal customs, with the promise that he would personally take care of the destruction of the "wrong" goods. He was allowed to continue his journey to Breaza.

The truck was unloaded there on Saturday, they were very happy with it in Breaza, another super load in the opinion of Csaba and Imola.

Here is the link to photos.

Pieter Nagel from Minis was able to collect and distribute part of the load that we brought to the farm in Marghita. The photo album and Pieter's explanation need no further explanation in my opinion.

Here is the link to photos.

Toth Attila from Peris has also informed us about the events there.

Here is the link to photos.

Viorel and Elena from Deaj work hard to help the poverty-stricken people in their area survive during this particularly difficult period for them. They are happy with the help we can offer. The help with, among other things, the goods from the depot in Breaza is literally of vital importance to the people in that region.

Here is the link to photos.

Reghina from Ticau received potatoes from the farm in Marghita and she immediately started distributing them. She was very happy again that she could do this.

Here is the link to photos.

As so often, Henk Muller from Band has rolled up his sleeves and is active on many fronts to help the many poor people around him.

Here is the link to photos.

We will be making the Easter packages 2023 on Thursday 9 and Friday 10 March. Often enough you can read on this blog how bad the situation is for many people in Romania. We are therefore taking it a step further and will be making 5.000 packages this time.

As a partner of the Zending over Grenzen foundation from Almere, we will collect the enormous amount of food in the RAI after the PLMA fair. This in the afternoon / evening of Wednesday 24 May. Sorting the following days in Broek op Langedijk.

Next Wednesday we will load another truck with destination Breaza. In addition, there are again the necessary collection jobs to do.