By MAGGIE JARUZEL POTTER
When unseasonably bitter-cold temperatures hit Romania recently, it triggered coordinated responses from the public, private and nonprofit sectors, said Adriana Stoica, executive director of
United Way Romania (UWRo).
Those quick and collective efforts probably helped save lives, she says.
Her colleague, Mona Gotteszman, agrees.
“A hospital in Bucharest opened space for the homeless to sleep, and
Samusocial, one of the organizations we support, extended the operating hours at their social centers and worked with city hall so homeless people could have a place to stay,” said Gotteszman, UWRo’s community impact manager.
A woman makes her way through a heavy snow storm in Bucharest. (Vadim Ghirda/AP) |
The
Association “Support for Social Integration” – another non-governmental organization (NGO) that receives UWRo funding to help poor and homeless families – provided hot tea, on-site meals, and actively worked with other local entities to identify a warm and safe place for families to stay during the frigid stretch, she said.
With temperatures reaching as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius (-31 Fahrenheit) in some parts of the country – and Siberian winds blowing upwards of 50 to 60 kilometers (31 to 37 miles per hour) – the winter weather was the worst some regions of Romania had seen since 1985, Stoica said.
“This year it looked like there was better collaboration between public institutions and NGOs because not as many people died from the cold as in other years.”
Responding to emergency situations is more the mission of the Red Cross than UWRo, Stoica says, but when lives are at risk NGOs work together. She said they pool resources such as food, warm clothing and sleeping bags.
“As the United Way, we look to meet the needs in the community that are unmet after a catastrophe passes, such as reaching out to families without homes,” Stoica said.
“We try to do something about the long-term needs of the community and the people.”
Created in 2004, UWRo is an independent affiliate of
United Way Worldwide in the U.S. According to Stoica, UWRo strives to make a positive impact in Romanian communities and in the lives of its residents through three focus areas: education, health and income generation.
UWRo’s main office always has been in the capital city of Bucharest in the country’s southern region. But in January 2009, two additional offices were opened; one in Cluj-Napoca in the north and Timisoara in the west.
Since 2007, the
Mott Foundation’s Civil Society program has made
two grants to UWRo, totaling $220,000, to help promote and develop individual and corporate giving and volunteerism. Successes thus far have been:
- Operating annual payroll giving campaigns that have raised more than $2 million from Bucharest-based companies and individuals.
- Doubling the number of companies participating in the annual fundraising campaign, increasing it from 20 to more than 40.
- Raising $900,000 in 2009, $800,000 of which was local money raised from its Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Timisoara offices. This amount supports grants for 25 projects in Bucharest and four each in the regions served by UWRo’s two new offices.
- Creating an organizational reserve fund that raised an additional $500,000 in 2009 alone, bringing the total amount in the reserve fund to more than $1million.
United Way Romania members (right to left Adriana Stoica, Veronica Guzun, Mona Gotteszman, Adriana Stanescu) |
Besides awarding annual financial grants to NGOs operating throughout the country, UWRo also offers periodic skills training for NGO staff, Stoica says. She added that in 2009 dozens of participants from the NGO sector attended eight educational seminars that included topics such as project management, time management, presentation skills, and others.
The one thing that remains from the deep freeze, which Romanians and tourists alike are pleased about, is the Ice Church and the Ice Hotel, she says. The nation celebrated a Valentine’s Day wedding in the only ice church in Eastern Europe. Located at Balea Lake in the Fagaras Mountains in central Romania, the wedding reception was held in the nearby Ice Hotel, Stoica said.
“The hotel is high in the mountains. It’s a nice hotel but everything is made of ice – even the beds that the guests sleep on.
“They cover the ice blocks with sheep’s wool and then put sleeping bags over that. These guests are sleeping in the cold by choice, not because they are homeless or poor.”
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