This week, we’ve been given the awesome opportunity to become the next TwitCause. TwitCause is a great way to spread awareness, through Twitter, about Global Rebirth and our mission! TwitCause has chosen to feature Global Rebirth for the week of the 17th - 23rd in September! During this time, it’s up to us to tweet and retweet as much as we possibly can to get Global Rebirth to the top, and we know that, together, we can do it!
You use Twitter already… this week, use it for good. If you don’t have a Twitter account, get one and follow @globalrebirth! It’s completely free, fun to use, and this week you can use it to support Global Rebirth!
It’s been 4 weeks since we’ve returned from our mission in Romania to deliver advanced nutrition to hundreds of Romanian children in need. From June 9 – 18, we traveled across Romania, through six major cities, to deliver nutritional products to 8 orphanages that will help support the children in their care. Thanks to you and your support, we were able to supply advanced nutrition that will impact over 900 children. Global Rebirth & MannaRelief are so proud to join hands and partner with so many life-giving organizations in Romania to provide a better quality of life for orphans and children in need. We hope you all enjoyed the pictures and videos we posted while we were in Romania. There will be many more videos to share in the coming months. We took so many great photos to share with everyone. Be sure to check out the entire collection on Flickr >
We owe a big thank you to everyone for the prayer and support we have received. Mission Romania was a huge success, but we’re not stopping there. We’re going to continue providing consistent support to our partners in Romania so that together we can deliver nutrition to children who need it most.
What’s next?
Along with providing consistent support for our partners in Romania, we are also going to return to Romania in 2010! It’s going to be an incredible experience and we’ll be able to provide advanced nutrition to hundreds of more children in Romania. As always, anyone is invited to come with us and to see first-hand the difference we can make in these children’s lives. The impact you will make will be felt for generations to come and it will undoubtedly be an experience that you’ll remember for a lifetime.
While we were in Romania, we heard some of the most heart tugging, mind gripping stories and we hope to share them with everyone right here, on The Global Rebirth Blog. We know you’re going to love them just as much as we do!
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Yesterday we visited Livada Orphan Care to deliver 200 Glycobears and 4 tubs of Ambrotose that will provide nutritional support for 33 kids. The majority of the kids were teens, which was pretty cool since the Global Rebirth team ranges from ages 14 – 22. We got into an intense game of soccer, which was a very cool experience for everyone. After soccer, we did a few skits, puppet shows, and songs with the guitar. Livada Orphan Care considers themselves more of a family rather than an orphanage. They take in new children only when someone graduates or moves out, because they don’t want the children they currently have to feel replaced. The kids stay until they turn 18, but even then they are told they are more than welcome to stay. Livada helps the kids find jobs, learn financial responsibility, counseling care, and prepare the kids for adult life. The kids attend public schools regularly. Livada runs entirely on donations and every donation comes from the United States. They are currently remodeling and today was the first day they were able to move back into one of their buildings. The kids were so excited to show off their new rooms and were busy unpacking their things and putting them away. If you would like to donate to Livada Orphan Care so they can continue their excellent work here in Romania, you can visit their website at www.livada.org.
After we left Livada, we met the caretaker at another orphanage to drop of more nutritional supplements. Sometimes we can’t always visit with the kids for various reasons, but even then we still want to provide them with the nutritional support they need in order to care for the orphans and children that need it most.
Next, we went to Bread of Life orphanage that cares for 90 children of all ages. We delivered 600 Glycobears and 40 tubs of Ambrotose. The older boys and some of our team got into a serious basketball game which drew a pretty good crowd. It was so awesome and we really love the chance we get to interact with these kids. After Basketball we went inside and did some puppet shows, songs, danced, face-painted, made balloon animals and even origami. The kids even sang a couple of songs for us in Romanian! The caretakers were so grateful for our team and showed their appreciation by cooking the entire team dinner. It was so good! We had some Romanian coffee and we were quick to learn that Romanian coffee is five times stronger than coffee in the U.S. Each of the kids drew a picture of their orphanage for us and colored them. Each team member got to choose a picture to keep that would remind them of their visit.
Then we got back on the road and made our way to Bucharest.
Well, we’re here in Cluj and a lot has happened since our last blog. We had originally planned on posting a new blog every night, but long drives, Internet issues, and late nights have impacted our updates. Let’s catch up!
On Friday, the 12th, we visited a rather large Gypsy Camp. We got off the bus and all of the children flocked around us. It was mind blowing! Children of all ages jumping with excitement just because we are there! We passed out candy, Glycobears, and gave tons of hugs. Many of us were approached by desperate parents begging us to take their children, pleading for us to buy them. This kind of reality is devastating. It really hit some of the team members hard and made us recognize how fortunate we really are. Life is never fair, but we can help make it better. We delivered over 600 Glycobears to supply the Gypsy Camp with nutrition that is designed to help promote a better quality of life. We believe by doing this, we can give them hope to a more fruitful life. After educating the caretakers about the nutritional products we left with a promise that we would return to see them again. It is our passion to supply these children with the nutritional support they need, and we’ll stop at nothing.
On Saturday, the 13th, we had a day of travel and stopped to visit Bran-Dracula’s Castle on our way to Cluj.
Today, the team attended a church service that included an incredible message. After the service, we headed to our next Gypsy Camp. First, we all sang songs inside with the children. Once we were done singing we all headed outside to the open fields to do puppet shows, dance, and we even played Duck, Duck, Goose! There were so many kids that the circle was almost as wide as a football field! It was so much fun and everyone was laughing so hard! Then, all the boys started playing a game of Soccer, or Futbol. The team was able to spend a lot of time with the children here and get to know each and every one of them.
We unpacked and stacked up over 1,200 Glycobears and 25 tubs of Ambrotose for this Gypsy Camp, after creating the biggest mountain of Glycobears ever, of course! The caretakers informed us that the winters are very hard for the children since they do not get any nutritional foods, can’t receive medical help, or parents simply can’t afford to feed them. We were assured that the nutritional supplements that we provided would help get the children through the rough winter and keep them nourished to help promote a strong immune system. That being said, another mission was accomplished!
Can we really make a difference? Yes, we really can. Tomorrow, the team will head back to Bucharest, delivering more nutrition to two more orphanages on the way. We are expecting a long and successful day!
