It's Not About Me

This blog post isn't about me. It's not about my next trip to Romania. It's not about raising funds. It may look like those things but it's not.

Yes, I am going back to Romania. In fact, I'm going very soon. May 30th to be exact. That means I have a little over 30 days to raise the $3000+ needed to go. Daunting? A little bit. But then I remember, it's not about me.

It's about this kid:

And this letter from him:
Dear Melissa,
I love you a lot and I miss you and can't wait to see you and I want to play with you and we can play together. And I know Jesus will help you come back quickly to Romania and you will play with all the kids and they miss you and I love all the Americans.

It's about the faith of a 13 year old orphan half way around the world and God's fulfillment of a promise He gave to that orphan.

This is totally not about me.

To help me fulfill this promise you can donate through my charity at www.eerop.org or through Heart to Heart International (http://www.h2hint.org/index.php/h2h/give/). Feel free to share with friends and others through Facebook and Twitter. Thank you for your faithfulness!

Quick Turn Around

I'm reaching out to the online community because I have a special request...

I recently made contact with a new connection in Russia. This contact works in two villages that are too small to have orphanages but have a fairly sizable populations of orphans and vulnerable children (20-30 children in each village). Each village has a family who has stepped forward to look after and minister to these children. It is an incredible sacrifice and these families have great needs, everything from clothes and shoes to bedding to cots and cooking tools. There is another connection I have made who is going to work with these children over the summer and will be passing through Atlanta in a week and a half. I have already begun to gather supplies for her but there is more that is needed. If you can help with any of the following, please let me know:

a large duffle bag-Needs to be able to hold about 40#s of stuff. This is how we're transporting the clothes
t-shirts
jeans
shoes in various sizes
puzzles
card and board games that require no English skills (ex. chess, checkers, Go Fish, etc.)
sheets for twin or full sized beds
sports equipment

The kids are aged 5-16 so a variety of sizes and styles will work. The most pressing needs are the duffle bag and clothes. I'm hitting some consignment stores and Goodwill to see what I can find but I thought someone might have some things they had put away for garage sales later this year. You will receive a receipt for your donation that will be tax deductible when we get our 501(c)3 approval (hopefully within the next month or so). If you are in the Atlanta area I can arrange to meet up with you to pick up items. Or, if you just want to donate money so I can go buy these items you can use PayPal.

Thank you so much for helping!

Thank You From Sliven, Bulgaria

No, I'm not in Sliven, Bulgaria. But I wanted to send out thank yous on behalf of the orphaned and abandoned children there. They may never know the many individuals who made it possible for them to have pajamas and socks this winter but I do and I want to say a huge "THANKS!" to the people who have come together and donated:

Beth, Ash, and Will M.
Laura A.
Barbara C.
Derek C.
Jessica S.
Loriann F.
Melissa G.

These 9 people have helped us cover nearly 80% of the shipping cost of the pajamas and socks.

I decided to pull a few pictures from the Special Helping School's Facebook page so you could see first hand the kids who will be enjoying the donations.

Source

Source

Source

Source

If you are still interested in helping, every penny you donate to our giveaway will go to helping orphans, specifically the ones at the Special Helping School. And you can win some incredible stuff! All the items except for the iPod Nano are handmade in Romania, another Eastern European country with many orphans in need of help. Check out the goodies below and, if possible, share this giveaway with friends. There are only a few more days to enter!

 

 

 

If you cannot see the donation button above please email me at info@eerop.org to find out how to enter. You can also send a Paypal donation to melissambrown@hotmail.com to enter the giveaway.

Upping the Ante

As you may already be aware, the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project is trying to raise some money towards a large shipment of pajamas and socks. These necessities were sent to the Special Helping School in Sliven, Bulgaria as part of our partnership with the Linda McDonald Foundation. All 100 sets of pajamas and 100 pairs of socks were graciously donated by the Molnar family of North Carolina.

We've had our Paypal widget up for awhile now but it's time to up the ante. We're turning this into a giveaway.




















To enter all you have to do is donate using the button above (if you are using a smartphone you will have to log on using a computer to see the widget, sorry) or you can email me at info@eerop.org and I can get you the info on how to donate*.

For every $5 you donate your name will go into the drawing 1 time. So, $5=1 entry, $20=4 entries, $50=10 entries, and so on.

What can you win? Glad you asked...

Two people will be entered to win a miniature incense burner and candle. They measure about 2 inches in real life and are from Romania.

One person will be entered to win a hand painted egg from Romania. This is a real egg and is incredibly decorated.

One lucky winner will get a hand carved, hand painted mini wooden plate (about 2.5" across). Again, all the way from Romania.

Another lucky person will get a BEAUTIFUL hand carved wooden box. 100% Romanian craftsmanship.

Next we have some hand blown Romanian glass ornaments. There's a simple glass bulb, a teal colored heart, and a small water bulb (you put water in it and stick it in a plant to automatically water it just the right amount). These will go to three separate winners.

 

The final "grand prize" isn't from Romania but I think it's pretty nice. It's a brand new iPod Nano.

Yeah, brand new. The little green tabs are there to prove that I haven't even taken the protective film off of it. These typically retail for about $125. And I'm giving it away.

Please consider donating, please share the word with your friends, please put a widget on your own website. This is all about helping orphans and vulnerable children.

I may not be able to save all the children but I will continue to try and ease their sorrow with gifts, as best I can. - Roger Dean Kiser 

*Any monies raised above and beyond the $575 total will go towards my next trip to Romania where I will be working with orphans.

Donations

Another round of thank yous for some wonderful donations to the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project! These were received in either August or September. I still have some more September packages to go through so if you don't see your name here, don't worry, there's more to come!

First off, a couple of hats and some socks from yours truly (I have in fact been crafting despite the apparent lack of documented progress):

Some baby mitts (super cute), socks, and hats from Beverly J. of Santa Fe, NM:

Tiina S. of Augusta, GA sent tons of blanket squares that look like these:

Carol L. from Kentwood, MI sent socks, hats, 4 gorgeous sweaters, and some mittens:

 B. J. M. from Salisbury, MD sent a blanket, some scarves, and some hats:

Valerie H. from Morris Plain, NJ sent 38 (!) pairs of mittens and a pair of slippers. These were given in memory of Dorothy Coombs whom Valerie tells me would have liked nothing better than to see these used by children in need:

Callista W. from Lakewood, CO sent some hats and a sweater:

Mrs. James W. of Kerrville, TX gave some darling booties, some hats, and tons of knitted toys:

 And LeeAnn G. from Denton, TX sent a large wrap, toys, mittens, scarves, cute headbands, and a hat:

Thank you so much to everyone who donated! Please remember that we are still taking monetary donations for the shipping to Sliven, Bulgaria. The shipment was pajamas for the orphans of the Special Helping School. Please check out their Facebook page and consider giving a donation below (if you are viewing this blog from a smart phone the widget will not appear, sorry!):