Fr. Alexandru Balaban, the parish priest of Dăeni, a village in Dobrudja, between River Danube and the Black Sea, is coordinating efforts to renovate a house inhabited by a little girl, eight-year-old Iulica, and by her mother and her aunt. The sisters are both disabled and struggling to raise the child and the rain was pouring through their leaking roof.
Iulica goes to school and dreams to become a teacher. The parish has supported the family ever since the girl was born, offering school stationery and a monthly scholarship for the girl, as well as food stamps, non-perishable foods and clothes whenever possible.
Renovation works are carried through the parish’s NGO called Holy Mary – Patron of the Afflicted and in partnership with Be an Angel for a Day Association. The priest works along with the hired workers, who are paid from donations raised for the house. The City Council helped by offering an excavator.
“I work as if it were my own house,” the priest said. “I promised the girl she would have her own room, with plenty of space for all her toys.”
They also changed the electrical installation and extended the house with an indoor bathroom. The two partnering NGOs want to refurbish the rooms as well and bring in new furniture. They also receive donations in building materials.
In the meantime, Dăeni Parish has started working on the extension of its social centre, near the St Paraskeva Church. The centre will host mothers and their children, elderly people and a local culture museum.
This summer, the parish priest convinced the team of the Dream Home Makeover show to build a home from scratch for a young family returned from abroad to be with their younger siblings abandoned by their mother.
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Asociația Sfânta Maria – ocrotitoarea celor necăjiți
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Photo: Facebook / Asociația Sfânta Maria – ocrotitoarea celor necăjiți
