SHOE

DISTRIBUTION

REPORT

2012

By the time the container which has left the US on September 6

th made it to Romania,

Buckner Romania already received requests for shoes which totaled over 10,000 pairs and

this number doesn't even include the minimum of 1000 pairs which the ministry of Buckner

Romania needs. These requests came from various institutions, foundations, organizations

which represent and try to help needy people from all over Romania. We knew of stories of

children who had no shoes of their own and had to share a pair with one of their siblings,

even if the shoes didn't really fit them.

Here is a story of a little girl living not very far from Targu Mures in the town of

Sighisoara. The story was sent to us by an old friend who runs and finances an After School

type program for 34 needy children from the community. The children, after finishing

school, are offered a warm meal prepared by an elderly lady who also helps them with their

homework and sometimes tells them Bible stories. The little girl from the story showed up

for the meal as usual, only wearing slippers and socks, this in the month of November when

temperatures are in the low 40s.

"The little girl grew up without a father and her mother

works in Hungary. She lives with her grandmother in very

difficult conditions, and the grandmother could not afford to

buy shoes for her to wear to school. When taking her picture,

the other children insisted that she smiled, but since she

doesn't have many reasons to be glad she barely gave us a

faint smile. Generally her face is sad and we know that she

most likely feels alone and abandoned. However, it is hard to

explain the way her eyes lit up and how her entire being was

transformed when she received her own pair of shoes. For a

little girl who - way too early - had to learn about needs and

disappointments, a pair of shoes was a reason to smile and

have hope again."

As we serve our own community of extremely needy people in Tarnaveni we don't

have to look as far as Sighisoara to find similar stories. The shoes we are able to give to the

children at Point of Hope Community Development Center and to their families for several

years now, truly make a difference to them, to their health and wellbeing.

We are thankful for all those who understand the need and donate shoes and socks, or

finance the container to be sent to Romania. Your help is truly a blessing to the Romanian

needy children!

Moldovan Dacian

President of Buckner Romania

ARRIVAL OF THE CONTAINER

OCTOBER 17th

, 2012

BUCKNER FOUNDATION

Buckner Community Development Center, Tarnaveni – over

600 pairs of shoes were set aside for the 120 children we minister

to during this school year, allowing us to give new shoes to them

every time they need them, as well as provide shoes to the new

children who are going to register in September 2013

Buckner Group Home, Targu Mures – currently cares for 7

young ladies and the 55 pairs of shoes and slippers delivered to the

house cover the girls’ needs for an entire year

Women's ministry – 70 pairs of shoes will be

distributed to the mothers of the children

registered at Buckner Community

Development Center

STATE RUN INSTITUTIONS

33 group homes ran by Child Protective

Services throughout Mures County – the 249

children and teenagers who used to live in the

orphanages throughout Mures County are the

beneficiaries of the Shoes for Orphan Souls

Campaigns for years now, and we offer shoes

to them in order to help and to show them that

they were not forgotten.

Targu Mures Penitentiary – 20 young men

who are serving time for the felonies they

committed, mostly motivated by the poverty they grew up in.

Rozmarin Day Center – 80 preschool and primary school aged children coming from

needy families all around Targu Mures benefit

from similar services we offer within the

Buckner Day Center.

Ibanesti town hall – the authorities have

identified all the social cases in their

administrative area and have found that

numerous families - totaling 600 - people live

under the level of poverty, therefore asked the

Foundation for help in providing shoes and

socks for them.

Adamus town hall – 505 children living in Adamus and in the surrounding villages

attend the schools and daycares which are under the administration of the town hall.

Because these children live in the rural area, they have fewer means than other children,

thus the shoes and socks donated to them were

a great help to them and to their families.

Public School no. 3, Tarnaveni – the school

has 305 children enrolled and it is situated in

the immediate vicinity of the Community

Development Center. This was the first year

we distributed shoes to the entire school and

given the living conditions and needs of these

children, the shoes were a great help to them.

CHURCHES

Bahnea Baptist Church – 62 children and

teenagers from the village where the church is

received shoes and socks as the church desires to

meet some of the practical needs the children and

families struggle with.

Libertatii Baptist Church, Targu Mures supports

the ministry of a small church in a mountain village.

The church found out about a family of 11 – 10

children and the mother – living in very scarce

conditions in the village, and challenged the

believers to help the family by donating things they

could use in their house. Buckner Romania joined

the cause by donating shoes and slippers to the

family.

Rucar Romanian Evangelical Church – is the

home church of a Romanian missionary couple

who reach out to children in orphanages, schools,

daycares and villages in Arges county. They

organize activities, summer camps and Bible

clubs for 539 children in 10 different locations.

Buckner Romania comes alongside their ministry

and gives them the opportunity to offer a greatly

needed help to the children: shoes and socks.

Tulca Baptist Church – runs a daycare, as well

as ministers to needy families in the area. Their

ministry reaches out to 296 children and adults,

and they all were given shoes and socks in order

to meet such a great need they have.

NGO-s

Vestea Buna Foundation, Sighisoara –

ministers to 34 extremely poor children by

offering them daily meals and helping them

with their homework.

Kiwi Foundation, Targu Mures – hosts 21

children of all ages and from different

backgrounds while searching for adoptive

families for them.

Holistic Freedom Association, Targu Mures – ministers to

151 children and adults - former beneficiaries of Child

Protective Services, who upon leaving the system have

difficulty adjusting to life on their own and struggle with

keeping a job, and live in a shelter where housing is offered

to them.

Pro Europa Roma Party, Targu Mures – represents and

deals with the problems of the Roma communities from

Mures county and helps them in any way possible. There are

thousands of Roma living in the county, and even if the 1400

pairs of shoes and slippers donated by the Foundation only

help some of them it is still a great help to communities

around Tarnaveni.

Samariteanul Association, Cluj Napoca –

ministers to 318 children with various needs

and challenges: disability, poverty,

unemployment of the parents, discrimination,

etc. who are enrolled in the daycares and high

school ran by the Association. Besides

education, the children benefit from

humanitarian aid, including the shoes and

socks donated by Buckner.

NGO-s

Bread of Life Foundation, Bucharest –

ministers to approximately 1500 children,

youth and adults throughout Moldova and

Bucharest in the two orphanages, and 11

feeding centers and soup kitchens the

Foundation runs. Given the extreme poverty

or homelessness that most of these children

face, food is a luxury to them, just as

footwear is. Buckner Foundation helps this

ministry by donating shoes for the children

for the third year now.

Eleos Romania Association, Targu Mures – helps and

monitors 75 children and adults of Roma ethnicity from the

Valea Rece Roma community. The Association counsels

and assists the beneficiaries in the process of becoming

legal, that is attaining all types of documentation and

identification, but it also tries to help practically the

families by offering them shoes and socks they are so much

in need of.

'House of Joy' Christian Sports Association,

Susani – ministers to families who live way

below the level of poverty in the Susani area,

by buying and delivering groceries to them

monthly. There are about 300 children and

adults who benefit from the help of the

Association, and who will also receive

footwear donated by Buckner Romania.

SOS 2012 IN NUMBERS

Pairs of shoes

shipped from the US

Number of locations where

shoes were distributed Number of beneficiaries

9375 57 5828