Monday, October 22, 2018

Fall Update from Ramona

Happy Fall Everyone!

    I wanted to take a minute to write and update you on what is going on with the ministry lately. Things sometimes happen very quickly and I don't take the time to share each little detail via email as much as I do on our social media sites. 

   We have three babies in our premature ward right now. We have about five or six children that seem to be cycling through our beds as they get sent home, only to get sick again and return. We also are supplying quite a bit of supplies to another foundation in the Oradea Hospital.

   Our hospital in Sibiu is doing really well! We have many babies there that are residing there due to birth defects and operations. Then we have many others that our coming in because of illness or neglect. Our part time worker is very busy and dedicated, but there are too many babies for her to spend individual time with each one. We are praying for someone else to come and assist her and will be budgeting for her salary this year. Please join us in prayer as we find just the right person for these babies!

   We decided to cancel the Service Trip to Romania this year as all the interested people could not gather the funds or were otherwise committed for the November time period. We will go ahead with planning a trip for next Fall. Let me know if you are interested. I was disappointed to cancel, but knew that God must have something in mind. Of course, it was better as our family has been undergoing many trials and I am needed here. I am so glad that I did not spend time fretting.

   Since the beginning of the year, our Board has undergone a change. We had three of our members resign at various times for various reasons and we needed to fill those positions. God has brought four new people in and I am amazed at the unity and cohesiveness of this Board. It is such a personal blessing and I am confident that this will be a wonderful year for the Ministry because of it! If you want to meet our Board Members please visit our website, where you can see their pictures and read their bios. You might even know some of these fabulous people! 
https://www.projecthopeforthechildren.org/board.html

 

   I am beginning to research flights and such for next year already. I am hoping that the family can join me this year as I feel it is very important for the children to help and learn compassion for others. I also will be spending three weeks working in Romania next year, as it is getting increasingly harder to get everything accomplished with both hospitals and foundations in just two weeks. Please pray for fantastic airline tickets as the ministry only pays for two tickets and I need five! Yikes!

   Our Baby Sock Fundraisers are starting soon, which greatly contributes to our budget! If you would like your church, school, or organization to get involved, please contact me! My schedule for speaking is now opening up again so if you would like me to present to your church, group, organization, please let me know!

   Thank you for your support and interest! We so appreciate it and could not survive without your partnership!

  Many Blessings,

          Mona

Thursday, August 2, 2018

November Service Project

The Latest at PHFTC

Happy August Everyone!

I cannot believe how quickly time is passing this summer as I am enjoying relaxing days and exciting field trips with my children! I hope you all received my last email where I updated you on my May Romania Trip! So much was accomplished! If you didn't receive it, feel free to email and I will forward it onto you. Sometimes, Mail Chimp Newsletters get sent to you SPAM so be sure to check there.

In that email, I mentioned how the Sibiu Hospital has given us permission to bring a small team of six ladies over in November and hold the babies, I am super excited about this opportunity as many of you have asked over the years if this was possible! However, it hasn't given us a lot of time to prepare either. 

The dates are November 2-11. You must be 18 or older and in fairly good health, have a passport and vaccines. The cost of the trip will be around $2500-$3000. We will know a more exact cost when we know for certain if we have a team. If you are interested please email me at http://caring@projecthopeforthechildren.org and I can send you the application and details. Again, this is time sensitive because of the month we have available there. 

The trip will include visiting some of the foundations PHFTC supports, holding the babies in the Sibiu Hospital and a little sightseeing. Hope you can join us! For those of you who cannot come, please pray for this opportunity and for open doors this year. 

Many Blessings.

Mona

                           
   


 

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Romanian Spring Update

The Latest at PHFTC

 
Hello Everyone!


  This email update is a long time in coming your way and I am sorry! One truth is life was very busy with children upon returning and an update just kept sliding to the end of the list. However, there is another reason... A letter is always being written in my brain even as I board the plane to fly home, but it is a very emotional and raw letter. Leaving Romania for me is very difficult. It normally entails tears on my part and feelings that I could have done more. My heart is there and normally upon returning to the States I feel a great sense of loss, detachment and a certain amount of depression. This is not a short term missions trip for me with the euphoric feelings of having accomplished my goals and being taught something wonderful from the trip, though that sometimes does occur. This is a struggle to leave my work and co-workers, a loss of community and purpose, mingled with guilt that I am blessed to do as much as I do. So for me, sometimes it is better to wait a while until I have settled back into this life and I can digest the good and bad that I saw and compartmentalize my feelings a bit.

To start, I was so blessed to be able to return to the Oradea Hospital after last years issues! I love being in the place where this ministry began, to hold the babies, chat with the doctors on my old unit and find out what needs purchasing! I was able to do all that! We still have some very sad infant cases on our Premature ward and I was able to hold, feed and pray over these little lives in my short time there.          


Once again Alina and I drove to the tiny city of Sibiu, where our second hospital is located. I decided to stay a little longer there this time as they are eager to have us and grateful for the supplies and our new part time worker! We have many babies there and never enough hands to help. I wrote a letter officially requesting that PHFTC team be allowed to come to the hospital in November and after much translating and editing, we presented it to the Head Nurse to give to the Director of Hospitals. The morning we brought the finalized copy in, the Nurse sent us a message saying she had spoken to the Director and he had already approved the trip! This was such a huge praise! For years, people have asked to come over with me, but the strictness of the Oradea Hospital has restricted us! There are still many obstacles to overcome for this short trip, but if you are interested please shoot me an email! 

 
Alina and I ordered and shopped and ordered and shopped for the two hospitals! Every year, the Oradea Hospital places more demands on the foundations and what they need to supply apart from the basic baby supplies and it is quite an undertaking to make sure we are stocked for the entire year; not only for us, but for the other foundations in the hospital that sometimes fall on hard financial times.

             
 
I was able to visit almost all of the foundations we partner with and their Directors or Supervisors and it blessed my heart to see the how well our supplies are put to good use in the two after school programs, foster homes and co-op center! I was able to gather lists from these foundations and we shopped for each one and sent thousands of dollars worth of food, diapers, wipes, cleaning supplies and household and academic supplies to them!





But yet again, sitting with the women from the Joy Beadz project was one of my favorite thing! Many more younger women have been added to the group and it was a special time of praying, socializing and creating! Changing one woman's life can redirect the whole direction of her children's lives! Less abandonment is our goal and safer environments for children to grow up in! If you want to know more about these foundations, we have a new testimonial section that just went up on our website that tells a little more about how PHFTC reaches others.
 
                     

It was such a busy time there! Two weeks is getting difficult to fit in all the work, shopping, traveling, and administrative work that needs to be done, but I loved every minute of it! I wore myself out and became sick at the end, but am grateful for the  prayers and the overall smoothness of the whole trip! Please think about how you can support us further in all our endeavors with the Romanian people and pray for wisdom for the Board and I as we make plans for the future!


In Him,

Mona




Monday, May 21, 2018

5 More Days!

The Latest at PHFTC

 

 

 
I can hardly believe that my last update was titled 5 More Weeks and now it is 5 More Days! It has been a hectic month to say the least! But here we are and I am so eager to be going to Romania, to rock those precious babies in the hospitals, to purchase baby supplies and toys, and to visit the foundations that we support! I feel continually blessed to be a part of this Ministry!
 

 
Fundraising has been going well! We keep receiving donations and  requests for help at the same speed, so if you think it is too late to donate, its not! Just last week, we were able to help a friend's foundation buy food for their after-school program because the amount of children participating was overwhelming! What a wonderful problem to have! The more this next generation is educated in academics, hygiene, ethics and Jesus, the less abandonments we will see in the years to come!
 
I leave this Friday in the afternoon and fly to Budapest, Hungary where a transport will pick me up and drive me to Oradea,Romania. I return home on June 9th. As always it will be a busy trip so please keep me in your prayers for health, safety, and favor with the hospitals.
 
As I stated in my last email, we have two new Board Members! We welcome Pam and Ashlea to the team and are so pleased they are willing to share their talents with this Ministry! You can check out their profiles on our website here!
https://www.projecthopeforthechildren.org/board.html
 
Also, our website designer, Samantha, has put together a neat montage of testimonials from our employees, foundation partners and nurses. It is very touching and I urge you to take a few minutes to check it out! 
https://www.projecthopeforthechildren.org/staff-partners.html
 

If you haven't liked us on Facebook or Instagram yet, this is a great time to do it as I will be sharing daily pictures and updates of my trip there!
 
Thank you again for making this possible! The children you serve by contributing to this ministry are knowing a different life because of your generosity!
 
La Revedere,
 
Mona

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Project Hope for the Children, Inc: 5 Weeks to Go

Project Hope for the Children, Inc: 5 Weeks to Go: The Latest at PHFTC Hello Everyone!   I am so eager to be back in Romania soon~ 5 weeks to be exact! But there is still so much to do befo...

5 Weeks to Go

The Latest at PHFTC


Hello Everyone!

  I am so eager to be back in Romania soon~ 5 weeks to be exact! But there is still so much to do before I get there! We have added two new Board Members to our Board, which I will introduce in the next letter! We are very thankful for their interest and excited to see how God uses their talents for this Ministry!

I have received many Loveys from kind women who have been sewing all year; Desitan rash cream, onsies and beautiful wall cling donations from so many! I also hope to take over something new this year; fabric books for the hospital babies that can be washed frequently. 

  I have received the wonderful news that the Oradea hospital after looking at my medical tests and childcare classes has accepted me back in to work this year! This is such a praise and I cannot explain how fearful I was of not being able to hold those precious babies myself!

Please continue to pray for funding! We had over $1200 come in for March Madness and we have just received a $2000 donation to cover our employee in Sibiu's part time salary! We also have a great Sock Fundraiser going on right now and numerous generous donations from individuals coming in weekly. However, we still will need several more thousand to be up to budget for the end of the year and we are so thankful to all of you who have supported us this year!

If you haven't checked out our website in a while go on over and see the 2017 pie chart. We are also adding testimonials from employees and partner foundations for you to read. Also, if you haven't added this email to your contacts, please do. We have been getting some bounces and for some our updates are going into their Spam accounts. https://www.projecthopeforthechildren.org/

Blessings,

Mona


  Baby N is 6 months old in our room with Bronchitus

Monday, March 26, 2018

March Madness 4

The Latest at PHFTC

  Good Morning! 

   We are still running our March Madness Campaign and looking for single or monthly donations. As this is the 15 year Anniversary of working in Romania, may I suggest a minimum donation of $15 or for fun anything divisible by 15?

  Almost every day, I receive a report from our staff in Romania telling about what children we are caring for and the history behind them. Many are very sad and even more could have been avoided with proper nutrition and education.

Currently, we are helping a child on the 8th floor of our First Hospital. She was brought in by her Roma mother. The mother is a very respectful, but a poor woman and can no longer care for her child.  "Hope" is seven years old, weighs about 20 lbs and has Tetraplegia~ the paralysis of all four limbs. She is terminal. We are providing carrot juice and yogurt for her. Please pray for her to be comforted.

We are also caring for several babies on our own ward. Each little one has their own story, Some will be go home to the parents, some will be adopted and others will be sent to live in an orphanage. All small and weak and not understanding this life they have been born into. Please take the time to look at their pictures and share with your family even, We are blessed and need to be reminded of it!

Please consider donating today and aiding us in this work! http://PayPal.Me/phftc  Or you can send a check to PHFTC 6983 Chase Rd, Fabius, NY 13063

Thank you for your interest and support!

Ramona

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

March Madness 3

The Latest at PHFTC

I am so pleased to report that we have $600 in one time donations come in so far! A great start to our fundraiser! 

As many of you know, we have another hospital in the middle of Romania that we have been working with for several years now.This hospital is small and modern, yet still they have the many social children. we have average about 30 per month. 

We have had a nurse named Cornelia who has been our Volunteer Liaison, storing and distributing the supplies since we started in Sibiu. However, just this summer we hired a wonderful woman, Dora who is working part time caring and loving on those babies there. This has been wonderful for the hospital and the children. The hospital has even agreed to let us a bring a small team of women over this year! We are excited about our work here!
Dora,Alina and Cornelia in Sibiu
We have added wall clings to the rooms to brighten and stimulate the children.
Bathing the babies is a daily activity.
We have children from infant on up to the preschool age in Sibiu
One of the things we do in Sibiu is purchase books so as the children leave the hospital each child can have a book of their own to keep. 

If you are interested in helping us in this work you can send a check to Project Hope for the Children, Inc, 6983 Chase Rd, Fabius NY 13063
You can also pay by PayPal on our website
 https://www.projecthopeforthechildren.org/support.html
Please feel free to like and follow us on Facebook and Instagram

Blessings,

Mona

 

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Project Hope for the Children, Inc: March Madness 2018

Project Hope for the Children, Inc: March Madness 2018: The Latest at PHFTC Happy March Everyone!   I hope everyone's winter has been going well and this will be the last month of snow for m...

March Madness 2018

The Latest at PHFTC

Happy March Everyone!

  I hope everyone's winter has been going well and this will be the last month of snow for most of us! My family and I had the privilege of going to Thailand for two weeks and we so enjoyed the warmth and sun there! But now we have returned just in time for our annual fundraising time! Before I explain a little more about this month's fundraising, here is a brief update of what we have been doing at Project Hope for the Children the past several months.

This past year saw us grow, as the Lord gently led us to help in new ways in Romania! We were able to hire one part time maternal assistant in our Sibiu Hospital~ the only worker for an average of 30 social babies! It is going well and we are hoping to add another worker this year,if we can find someone qualified! PHFTC also was able to increase the salary of our longtime employee, Alina, who supervises our projects so beautifully!

   We were able to assist two different foundations with their openings of an after school care facility and preschool respectively. We donated supplies of food and items to help them get up and going and we love seeing the faces of these children as they are introduced to new ideas such as: hygiene, proper food, God's Word, educational instruction, etc.

  We also continued to help our two other regular foundations with diapers, wipes, food and cleaning supplies for their orphan homes and Gypsy projects! As usual,we aided other foundations in the hospital in Oradea when they lack the money to buy supplies for their social babies, and,of course, our primary goal of funding our wards in the Oradea and Sibiu Hospitals with every baby essential you can think of!

  With all that going on, it is time I return and purchase the supplies, reconnect with the hospital staff and foundation directors and check on our employees, as well as cuddle as many babies as the hospital allows! The dates are March 25- June 8th!

Sooo... that brings us to our annual March Madness Fundraiser! If you are not familiar with it, let me explain how it started. March was the month I moved to Romania so many years ago and so I enjoy dedicating a month of online fundraising to help meet our budget before my Spring trip! This year it is the 15 year anniversary of working in orphan care in Romania. This is such a huge milestone for myself and PHFTC and I cannot tell you how incredibly blessed I have been because of this ministry! 

This month, I will be sending out many more mailings and posting pictures and information on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Please join in, contribute, donate and share with your friends about this foundation and what we do! Because it is our 15th year, would you consider giving in amounts divisible by 15, such as: $15 ,$30, $45, $115 etc. 

You can do so immediately by clicking on our PayPal link here http://paypal.me/phftc .

You can also go to our website and donate via the link and make reacurring donations https://www.projecthopeforthechildren.org/support.html. (And yes, it works this year:)

Also, if you haven't seen us on FB or Instagram come check us out. I post as many pictures as possible on these sites.
 https://www.facebook.com/phftc/
 https://www.instagram.com/projecthopeforthechildren/

I'm excited about this month and about this year ahead of us! Thank you for your support!

~Mona~


The purpose of orphan care isn't to make us feel like a savior, but to lead them to THE savior.