Adventist Youth and Children Partner for Service in Romania

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Romania partnered with the Youth and Children Department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the country to distribute 7,000 gift packages across the nation on March 17, 2018. The “Young People Helps Children” project, part of ADRA’s more encompassing project “Children Helping Children,” coincided with Global Youth Day, a day Adventist young people around the world use to serve their communities.

“Following Christ means sensitivity, service, solidarity, and hope,” said Stefan Albu, Chaplain at the Sagunto Adventist Education Center in Spain and ADRA Director Catalonia from 2012-2017. “People are moved by what we do far more than what we say.”

Albu kept sharing the rationale of the youth and children involvement. “We are called to bring good news through compassion, solidarity, sensitivity to the needs of people, sharing hope through what we do,” he explained.

Romania Adventist Church Youth and Children Department director Daniel Chirileanu shared the impact he witnessed that day, especially in children volunteering. “It is hard to put into words the emotion and the satisfaction of the little ones after they gave something to less-favored children,” he said. “This year’s collaboration between the Youth Department and ADRA Romania has rendered an impressive service, and we believe that the message of generosity will multiply because of this gesture.”

ADRA Romania director Robert Georgescu explained that the “Children Helping Children” ADRA project combines two of the organization’s impact areas: Education and Assistance to the Underprivileged. “By promoting the spirit of social responsibility among children and young people, small donors can learn something not usually taught in formal education,” he said. “For this year’s edition, the Adventist Church’s support allowed for a successful implementation of the project.”

The goal of the “Children Helping Children” ADRA project is to encourage volunteering and a spirit of social responsibility among children and young people, by inviting them to get involved in social activities. Thus, it asks them to help in offering food packages, personal hygiene items, school supplies, clothing, footwear, and toys, especially to vulnerable children and young people (poor, disadvantaged, single parent families, or children from placement centers, or orphanages).

ADRA Romania is part of the ADRA International Network, the Seventh-day Adventist Church humanitarian arm, which is active in more than 130 countries around the world. ADRA seeks to improve the quality of life of those in need. It is something achieved by investing in people’s potential through community development initiatives, organization leaders said.

They explained that even small changes have the potential to make a difference. “In all we do, our guiding motto is, ‘Change a life and change the world!’” they said.