The Smiles Foundation, Gepiu Children's Centre

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Leeds, England registered UK Charity No.1087961
Kingsport, USA charitable non-profit # 86-0957704
Oradea, Romania registered Charity No.14839712

...making smiles in Romania

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GEPIU Community Project
Children's Centre & Horticultural Division

One of the Smiles Foundation’s important objectives is to encourage more self-sufficiency in Romania. This not only creates initiative and opportunity for the Romanians, but also creates employment and less dependency on financial support from the Charity, allowing funds to be diverted to the many projects awaiting and needing support.

A project to receive both capital support and expert advisory support in greater self-sufficiency efforts is the Gepiu Community Project.

The Gepiu project, led by Catalin and Lavinia Bakai, is already providing excellent educational support to 30 youngsters at the Children’s Centre each day. The Centre was opened in September 2006 following
15 months of construction at a
cost of £97,274 / $194,548.

The facility provides assistance in after school classes for Grades 1-IV taught by Lavinia and Grades V-VIII taught by Catalin. In October 2006 Smiles employed full-time cook for the Centre, Violeta Faur. The children receive lunch at the centre following morning session at state school and then get 3 hours extra tuition from Lavinia and Catalin.

The Community Centre also provides a place for the village young people to enjoy fellowship and support. They enjoy a hygiene programme at the Centre with showers and laundry facilities once a week. The elderly also benefit from meals, both at the centre and delivered to their homes regularly.

Danute Buse was also employed October 2006 as a Farm Hand and help with General maintenance and logistics, especially the transporting of young people from Gepiu to the City High School each morning, about a 30 mile round trip. Without such support, the children would either miss school or end up hitch-hiking.

Danute’s biggest responsibility was to be developing the Farm, both livestock and the planned horticultural development. Gepiu has had the pig-farm running now for about 2 years. Significant success has been enjoyed with raising many good sized pigs which have been sold within the community. The pig farm is well established and now we have chickens for both meat and eggs.

With the investment in Green House Poly Tunnels – erected on one of the Gepiu sites, Danute is working closely with American Missionary, Linda Rudderforth to make a success of the new horticultural division.

Tomatoes and Pepper plants are already in the Tunnel. Seeds are sown for lettuce, radish, onion, peas, carrots, beans, cabbage and much more. If successful, Gepiu’s Horticultural project will be supplying vegetable needs to its own Day Centre in addition to the Mission Centre and Children’s Centre at Cihei plus the Tileagd School and Nursery along with the Emergency Housing Unit in Mirlou.

Significant funds are budgeted every week for food purchases within all Smiles projects. It is now hoped much of the food will be purchased from Gepiu in the future. Luci Gal (Head Chef at Cihei’s Mission Centre) who oversees most food purchasing for Smiles is advising Gepiu of what to grow and how much is needed.

If successful, Gepiu will supply an increasing share of fresh vegetables needed by Smiles, allowing valuable funds to return to Gepiu so as to extend its Farm and Horticultural work which will also provide employment opportunities for locals in the future.

In preparation for the potential of this project, Smiles purchased an additional 7 hectares of Farm land which is being farmed this year with Corn and Sunflower and hopefully much more in years to come.

This is an exciting project with tremendous potential.
We ask for your continued support.

Gepiu Farm & Horticultural Project - Update

UK - To help with...

Capital Costs and initial Operational supplies to the Farm & Horticultural project:

Operational Costs for Children’s Educational support:

Meals provided to Children and the Elderly:

Gepiu Project where most needed:

Hiking & Camp Trips Summer '08

To support on a regular monthly basis at
£15 a month

US - To help with...

Capital Costs and initial Operational supplies to the Farm & Horticultural project:

Operational Costs for Children’s Educational support:

Meals provided to Children and the Elderly:

Gepiu Project where most needed

Hiking & Camp Trips Summer '08

To support on a regular monthly basis at
$30 a month

Gepiu Children's Centre - History

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    Page last updated on 31/07/2008 10:24:27 AM
   by ADMIN1

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