Donate to Gepiu $
The Project was established in 2004 with our current Community Centre built and opened in 2006. The project is overseen by the Smiles Executive Management, in close communication with our Gepiu Social Assistant – Ioana Tamas.
Day to day responsibility at the Community Centre is charged to Social Assistant, Ioana.
Ioana oversees Support for the Children coming from difficult backgrounds, which includes an After-School programme, Fun Activities and Outreach Fellowship meetings. We have a great team helping Ioana at the Centre to provide many important activities and programmes, including Lunch, Hygiene, Laundry and Homework.
Livia in the kitchen and Dan in the classroom are also involved with supporting the work with the children.
Every day of the school term, the facility provides assistance with after school classes for Grades 1 – 8. Smiles employs Livia as cook for the Centre so the children can receive lunch following their session at the State school. For many this is their only hot meal of the day. Then they get 3 hours extra tuition from our team as well as use of hygiene facilities and Christian fellowship led by our full-time project Social Worker and occasional help from Samuel of the Field Project.
The majority of our supported children come from families suffering extreme poverty and would have no bathroom facilities in their own home. Some would not even have running water and certainly not sanitation in the home.
The Smiles Foundation organise an Elderly Luncheon in Gepiu when possible, which is very popular not only for the elderly of Gepiu but also with all Smiles staff and visitors who try to attend whenever lunch is served. Several seniors from the village attend with ages ranging from 60 – 95. A great meal and good fellowship are enjoyed with one of the Smiles Ministry Team speaking at each lunch attended by folks of all denominations and some who don’t attend church at all.
Meetings and events are regularly organised for the Youth and Children whether Club night at the Centre or visits to the City and other places of interest. We also try to arrange Camp each summer for the children to enjoy, who have worked hard and performed well throughout the year. Dezna is a popular destination for them! A lot of work is undertaken through the Gepiu Community Project and a lot of support is needed.
Please help with supporting our Operating Costs which are £2,244 / $2,920 per month.