Latest Update

Warm greetings from many friends in our area.

Through this message, we wish to highlight the vital impact of the shower facility, designed to provide access to essential hygiene amenities for marginalized , most of them Roma families and individuals in need. I want to share that your generous support continues to bring joy this year, laying the foundations for dignity, health, and social integration within a community that previously lacked basic sanitation infrastructure. Being able to take a warm shower brings them great delight.

For the most part, the showers operate two or three days a week. It depends heavily on holidays—and when they fall—as well as the weather. On the days they are open, they serve an average of 10 to 15 people daily. Those in charge tell us that, in a given week, around 50 individuals—whether children, adults, the elderly, or families coming together—happily wash themselves. The basic rule is that anyone who wishes may come, but at least one adult must take responsibility for cleanliness, the time spent, and the resources used. It is a shared facility, but maintaining it in good condition is essential.

We are delighted to see that some of them have already experienced the benefits of this project and are beginning to improvise their own setups at home, however modest, so they can wash there as well. Yet, living in marginalized areas—without sewage systems or running water piped to their shacks and one-room homes—there is little they can do on their own.
That is why many rely on our support. We are happy to play a part in preventing disease, infection, and the spread of parasites (such as lice, fleas, and scabies). But please know that we also contribute to psychological well-being by restoring dignity and alleviating the shame associated with poverty and material deprivation.

Month after month and year after year, we see how hygiene removes a huge—albeit sometimes invisible—barrier in the lives of many. We see community members gaining the confidence to interact with others—at church, at school, on the street, or even when seeking day labor or longer-term employment.

A particularly moving example involves the children invited to the socialization, information, and education program held in the building rented by adults for church services. When invited, they all agreed to attend, noting that the program took place the day after the shower facilities were open; this allowed them to bathe first so they could arrive clean. They already understood that, in society, one needs to be clean. They arrived proudly and happily recited and stepped forward without anxiety or shame. Doru, one of the children, even mentioned that he had taken a shower using apple-scented shampoo. We are delighted whenever we see children and adults grateful and happy because of the effort we have put in.

For Elena, an elderly woman from one of the communities who struggles with mobility issues, fetching and heating water on the stove at home had become both impossible and unsafe.

However, having a dedicated, warm, and secure space to attend to her personal hygiene has restored her joy in going to the doctor and the store. She confided in us that the time has come when she can no longer manage on her own and needs us and our facilities. Filled with gratitude, she told us that—despite her health issues—having a place to shower and knowing she can rely on it has significantly improved her physical and mental well-being.

We would like to conclude with this thought: Yes, it is true—beyond mere brick and mortar, your donation has gradually but surely built a sanctuary of dignity through this project. For the nearly 50 people who walk through these doors each week, this facility is not just a simple shower block; it is a small yet significant step—a vital stepping stone toward a healthier, more hopeful future.

Thank you for making this transformation possible and for being part of our team.
May God reward and protect you, and may the Lord’s blessing be upon you all. Much Love Cornel (Project Manager)

Summer update 

‘The  hot summer days are rarer and as August spends its last days and September waits to settle more and more comfortably, the sun shines less and less and nature helps us to understand that autumn is around. Everything is dry around us due to the lack of rain and the terrible heat during the summer. People, children, nature, animals, all cry out and pray to God for the little rain that hasn’t fallen for months. Everything is dry around, the wells are empty, the canals and ponds have long dried up, people are desperate for some coolness and for rain and water..

Dozens of barefoot, scantily clad children gather under an older tree, trying to find something to play with, and they say that they heard that the holidays are over and they keep being told that school is starting. Some say that there is nothing true, others say that it is true that they saw children passing through the city and on the main street with their parents with new backpacks and new clothes that they heard them talking about school and that’s it, September is coming again.

Others cry and are sad that they don’t have anything prepared for school because their parents are having a hard time and they don’t have food, they don’t have shoes, they don’t have clothes, they don’t have supplies, school bags, they don’t have anything prepared and they don’t have anywhere to go to make ends meet. A few older children, who in the past years have benefited from support and help from our foundation ask if they haven’t heard anything, wouldn’t there be help from the Paty and Mr. Cornel foundation, something to help them with school? The sad answer is that this year we can’t offer anything for them, for the school either, no supplies, no school bags, no clothes and shoes, resources are very very limited and we have no way.

But, thank God that at least we can help them to be clean and stop walking around full of lice and unwashed among other children. Praise God!

Thank you Link to Hope for your support and for standing with us and these neglected and marginalized people, children and families. They can’t do anything without your support and donations, but with you by their side their life is a little better and more beautiful. May God bless you and reward your love and sacrifice.’

The wood truck has arrived at their camp and begins the unloading process and arranging the wood. Thank you very much, dear friends!! Many people gather and many help to unload.

Somewhere from behind a corner of the hut among the other participants in unloading wood two or three more shy and withdrawn children appear, they have recently arrived in their camp but they heard that they can wash and take a hot shower if they follow the rules and help with wood. They approach shyly and ask me if they can also unload that they will go to school and at home they don’t have a bathroom or water, they don’t know what it’s like to shower but the other children told them that it’s good and that they will have clean hair and they will go home and to school clean and sanitized.

Sabinut is 7 years old and has never taken a hot shower before, but now he unloads wood and logs so that he can take a shower on Sunday night as school starts on Monday and he wants to be clean on the first day of school among the other children. Dinu is his cousin, he is also 6 years old and they both carry wood and work with energy because they know that for this they will be able to take a hot shower. Cristi is just 4 years old and he helps too. It’s hard work, the wood is long and heavy but they are determined to put in all the effort and get involved to the point of exhaustion just so they can take a hot shower.