U.S. Aid Delivers Lunch and More to Sfanta Macrina Street Children
On March 21, 2006, USAID/Romania Mission Director Rodger D. Garner enjoyed a special break in his busy schedule – sharing lunch and conversation with Father Gabriel Cazacu and the street children of Sfanta Macrina after helping deliver a food donation from the International Partnership for Human Development (IPHD). The donation is part of a U.S. Government humanitarian assistance program.
Sfanta Macrina is a residential and day center that provides social, educational, medical, and counseling support to street children, as well as job counseling and life skills training for young adults who grew up in group homes or institutions. Father Gabriel Cazacu, the warm and sociable priest who runs the center, plans to expand it to create a shelter for mothers in difficulty, to help keep “his kids” and their parents together. He says that since 2002, the annual food donation from the U.S. Government “has kept hundreds of children fed here at Sfanta Macrina.” The donation comes through a program managed by IPHD and Caritas-Bucharest.
This year’s IPHD donation offers 75 metric tons of food to more than 80 organizations, including soup kitchens, hospitals, children’s homes, and HIV day centers throughout Romania. Worth approximately $150,000, these contributions will provide four million meals to 12,000 persons in need.
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| USAID/Romania Mission Director Rodger Garner (right) receives a warm
reception from Father Gabriel Cazacu and Sfanta Macrina youngsters |
Sfanta Macrina is one of several humanitarian programs managed by the Diaconia Association, which is affiliated with the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Diaconia Association has a long history of partnership with the U.S. Government. Funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) helped Diaconia create a network of Christian families who support other families whose children were recently reunited with them after being institutionalized.
IPHD was founded in the U.S. in 1983 to respond to the unmet needs of the poor and to remove the causes of poverty through grassroots and popular development efforts. Over the years, IPHD has provided more than $245,000,000 in food aid, project grants, and in-kind donations in 20 countries around the world.
Caritas is an international confederation of 146 Catholic organizations involved in charitable and social action in 194 countries and territories. In Romania, they provide food, shelter, medical care, counseling, and other services, with a special emphasis on persons with special needs, such as those with HIV/AIDS.
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