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Author: mad-aid

Hello dear MAD-Aid supporter!

Posted on by mad-aid

Hello dear MAD-Aid supporter!

Whether you’ve been part of the MAD-Aid family for years or you’ve just joined us, I send you my warm greetings from the Isle of Wight. How are you feeling and keeping up in this world of fast changing chaos?

For our tiny team here, to say we’ve been overloaded these past 118 days would be a dramatic understatement. I’d like to share a bit of what’s been going on, in case you haven’t been following our activities on Facebook.

The date of February 24, 2022, forever changed the course of our charity. No, let’s not say it was changed; rather, the events of that day added significant projects to our existing programs and, hence, to the already full workloads of our small teams in the UK and Moldova.

On that day, when Russia invaded Ukraine, I was in Moldova. In the first month, I went from not fully grasping what the words “war” and “refugee” meant, what those sound and feel like to people on the ground, to the point of detesting those words. Consider this: millions of individuals who ran from guns, fire, and destruction went from being known as teachers, students, mothers, retailers, scientists, professionals, to this label instead: refugee. To many, they became a statistic. And that’s not right.

More about that first month you can read here on our blog.

At our Phoenix Complex in Riscani, close to the Ukraine-Moldova border, we have accommodated over 100 displaced mothers and children since February 27. The last group of 27 have become like family, as they have been with us for nearly three months.  

These, too, are numbers, yet behind every number is a personal story, and most of them are as heart-breaking as this one Alexandra told me:

Mark was born in the Bucha hospital on February 17, a mere seven days before the war started, she kept repeating. Not even a month later, the bombs began to drop on them. Terrified, but feeling fortunate, Alexandra, her newborn son, her two-year-old son, her mother, and grandmother, together escaped on the last humanitarian aid convoy. It took them a week to reach Moldova. Their placement is in Mihaileni Centre, one of the centres fully under MAD-Aid’s wing since March 1. Alexandra’s husband and father of the two boys is still in Bucha. Their flat was bombed, and they now have nowhere to return. In early May, they christened the baby in a church in Mihaileni, and I became his godmother.

 

Of the 90,000+ Ukrainian citizens who have arrived in Moldova every day since the war started, up to half of them are children. Kids of war, they are called.

And that is just a short introduction in our operation to help Ukrainian people in Moldova and Ukraine.

 

Back on the Isle of Wight, where MAD-Aid has made its home for the last decade, the generosity of the local people has been beyond amazing and outside our imagination.

Since February, we, together with countless volunteers, set up 26 collection points across the Isle of Wight. Then, over the following weeks, we collected over 150 tonnes of emergency aid, sorted it all, and stuffed it into 40-foot containers.

The result to date is 13 trucks hauling these containers have left our small island for Moldova, where the aid was distributed throughout the nation, as well as to parts of Ukraine. Thousands of boxes of food, sanitary products, clothes, bedding, beds, medical, survival kits were collected, sorted, shipped, and distributed. Each truck carried a value of goods worth 40-60 thousand pounds. Handling over half a million pounds in aid gave MAD-Aid an enormous responsibility and we appreciate the trust placed in us.
 
Besides the 13 trucks from the Isle of Wight, we shipped a further four container-loads of aid. Two were from London, one from Scotland, and one from the Netherlands. So, in all, MAD-Aid has organised and arranged the paperwork for a total of 17 trucks carrying about £800,000 worth of aid.

We sent seven smaller shipments of aid in 7.5 tonne trucks directly into Ukraine. With the help of the Ukrainian Embassy in Moldova, we delivered food, survival kits, first aid kits, medical aid, baby food, pampers and so much more, to Ukrainians in need.

 

We are proud of what we, with many generous donors and volunteers, have accomplished over the past four months. We wish we could say our United4Ukraine mission will soon end, but there is still no end to the war in sight or to the humanitarian crisis it has caused.

We have more meaningful news to share with you, but to keep this newsletter to a reasonable length, we will do so over the coming days.

Wishing you peace and good health,



Victoria and her small team



PS. Below are just a few random photos of the many volunteers who put in herculean efforts to load and deliver the truckloads of emergency aid.

 



 

One Month since War started

Posted on by mad-aid

Month 1, February – March 2022

MAD-Aid and the Isle of Wight community supporting Ukraine.

I woke up, like everyone in Moldova on 24 February 2022, to the echo of huge explosions.

I decided on the same day to come back to the UK; I considered that I would be more useful from here, although I left a bundle of problems in Moldova – high gas bills, unfinished negotiations with CNAM about our contract for Phoenix therapy sessions, and a huge number of decisions up in the air. Our office manager, Lucian, presented me with a set of urgent orders that he had hastily typed up, I signed them hurriedly, and I left!

By the time I got off the plane in the UK, we already knew that we would offer 30 places to stay in our Phoenix Complex, and in my head, I had calculated the increased upkeep costs, who could help us with the funds, and how much it costs to feed a person for a day. Even before we got home, we already had donations promised. The encouraging message was, “We trust you. We know all too well what you’ve accomplished during the pandemic.”

I started counting: 25 arrivals. Then 44! Phoenix was inundated in the smiles of innocent children who had no idea that they have become the children of war. People were pouring in. My co-workers had begun to forget about Saturday and Sunday or 9-5.

There were calls, messages with everything – far too many to handle! I’m not keeping up with them today either! At home on my island, I was greeted by a surprise – the whole community had mobilized to help the Ukrainian population, and extremely quickly they realized that they needed MAD-Aid to handle the logistics. We have united our efforts and for a month we have accomplished so much.

Here are a few snapshots of our days:

11 March 2022– at one In the morning, the driver of truck 3 called from Dover: the export of humanitarian aid has been simplified and there was no two export documentation, just one. He was worried that it was missing! At 6.30 (8.30 in Moldova) the driver of the second truck called me. He has already arrived at the border terminal in Balti, in Moldova! At 9, I hear from the drivers of the two vehicles sitting at the customs at Otaci, on the Moldova-Ukraine border to send the documents for the transfer of the aid to Vinnytsia. At 10, truck number 4 arrives on the Island to load. This is the joy of logistics.

Day to day – a round of logistics, calls, funds that are needed quickly and strategically. The money must be used so carefully – donations will decrease, but the need is still growing rapidly, and it will be needed longer term.

Meetings, zoom after zoom, 12 groups, all important, between 30-60 calls a day. I have added Telegram and Signal on my phone on top of the traditional phone service, Messenger, WhatsApp and Viber. I am afraid, inevitably, that I miss emails, messages, and important updates. One day I will catch up. For now, I can only sort them. 🙈

9 trucks have been loaded – aid worth more than £400,000 – a huge responsibility. Three loads have already been distributed throughout Moldova, to Stefan Voda, in the south, to Briceni, in the north, and in between, to Otaci and Ukraine. The rest is yet to be distributed or still on the way.

Yes, it was a month full of everything – tiredness, powerlessness, satisfaction when we managed to get aid to Ukraine legally and correctly.

There was inspiration, encouragement, and support – support from people from whom you least expect it. There was harsh criticism from others, judgement without logic. There was satisfaction that you have transferred aid professionally for 10 years and now you are starting to use that expertise for different outcomes. I salute and thank those who support MAD Aid and put your confidence in us.

It was a month that marked us all, a month that could be the beginning of an end but could also be a beginning with an extremely distant end! We can’t anticipate, but we can get involved today and now! Tomorrow we could be in need.

Thank you for reading this far. I know you now understand and won’t be upset that I really can’t always answer your call…

MAD-Aid 2021 overview

Posted on by mad-aid

2021 AT PHOENIX HOME AND PHOENIX CENTRE

WOW! What a year; intense, productive, and powerful but extremely difficult. A year when we all had to come to grips with the pandemic and learn how to live with it and still live full, productive lives.

I want to thank the many of you who, despite coping with COVID-related realities in your lives, continued to believe in and support the work of Phoenix and our programs. Thanks to you, we’ve managed to safely re-open and operate both the Day Centre and our Early Intervention and Rehabilitation Programs!

 We’ve also begun taking in residents at Phoenix Home for the elderly – the fulfilment of another dream! It’s heart-warming to watch them flower in community with others, to learn about their lives, and to provide a warm, comfortable, welcoming home in which to find satisfaction and fellowship. Among them are teachers, musicians, nurses, and others and we encourage moments of interaction between them and the youth Phoenix Centre, something from which both parties’ benefit.

Speaking of Phoenix Centre, we also managed to have the very first Summer Camp for children with special needs! Kids of all ages, and from three organisations took part. The theme was the Olympic Games, and the kids participated enthusiastically in educational games, wheelchair races, board games, stories, jokes, and songs around the evening fire, all capped off with fireworks. Though in some ways limited, our kids are like kids everywhere, and they know how to have a good time!

 

And then . . .

PHOENIX POOL

A project that was proven to be most difficult in all my years of charity work. The original contractor was well into this costly project when the inspector arrived for his first look, and we discovered they had done everything wrong. It all had to be torn out. My heart broke.

It was back to the drawing board. The good news is – against all odds -we did it!  Phoenix Pool and Aqua Centre – a beautiful warm waterswimming pool was open on 19th of September, and became fully operational on the 1st of November. Already 24 disabled people regularly find weightless relief in its warm waters, 39 kids from the surrounding area have learned to swim, 50 adults have signed up for membership, and there are more than 140 kids on the waiting list to sign up for lessons!

Needlessly to say the project is a beacon of light and brings a recreational opportunity to the citizens of Riscani and the region that’s never been available before.

We have not finished the full financial report of the pool, but the estimate is around 183000 euro project. 

DELIVERING AID

We have managed to deliver and distribute four truckloads of aid. Hospital beds, wheelchairs, crutches, clothes and school bags, much needed personal protective equipment were distributed to:

Autism Hope – the centre founded by over 40 mothers who have children with Autism that we helped set up.

Three homes, specially-designed for children with Special Needs – in the Falesti district. The boys and young men In these homes come from orphanages and, thanks to the opportunities the homes provide, are beginning to make a life for themselves surrounded by people who recognize their value as human beings. 

Aid was also delivered to hospitals, families in need, prison for minor children, Hospice Angelus, and other centres that offer much-needed social services.

It is so encouraging that services like these for the disabled and disadvantaged are slowly but surely are being developed in Moldova, a country where, historically, these people were just shunted aside and kept out of site with no hope, no life, no dreams. Such a waste.

Our vision all along the way has been that Phoenix would be a model for similar centres throughout the country, not just a pipe-dreams-and-paper template but living proof that it can be done.

 
 

As we step into 2022, we reach another amazing milestone – MAD-Aid’s 10th year of operation! What began as a simple act of charity and kindness has grown to embrace hundreds, thousands of people in many nations, those who serve, who volunteer, who contribute, who pray, and those are being served. 10 years! I’m both humbled and proud, if that’s possible. It must be, because I am.

Every single act of kindness, every single life of a kid who was impacted, every single wheelchair that gave freedom and mobility to someone, every dirty, rusty bed hospital bed that was thrown out and replaced with a comfortable new one, every tear that was dried, every pain that was cared for, every heart that is being healed is all thanks to every single one of you who, in whatever way you could, took Phoenix into your embrace. 

THANK YOU! We will soon complete the 10-Year Overview. A limited number will be available in print on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you’d like to receive a hard copy, email me your address and I’ll put you on the list.

You also could join us for the 10th Aniversary Gala still a few tickets left – Get Yours Now!

In meantime
 Happy New Year!

Thank you

Victoria and her elves from around the world.

 

 

Happy New Year!

Posted on by mad-aid

2020 is nearly over.

Looking back on this year, for the first time in our generation, we’ve experienced a real change in our daily lives, our busy lives. We learned that plans needed to be adjusted, or changed entirely. We had to rethink them constantly. We learned that freedom costs and staying home saves us and those around us.

We built and tested our resilience.

Some of us grieve the loss of loved ones; others of us experienced an illness they never knew existed. My thoughts are with you. It’s not over yet, please stay strong.

However hard or easy, challenging or productive, it has been for you, we are approaching the end of 2020, a year to go forever in history as a year apart.

As I write this final (very overdue) message of the year, I am not going to report statistics to you, nor the amazing achievements that we did manage to accomplish together. Those are itemized in the report below for you.

We have all experienced this year differently. We are in same storm, but in different boats. But what we share in common is the desire to be happy, to be useful, to bring smiles to others, to change and make a difference daily where it is most needed.

At the crossover of the years, we must embrace the change and adjust the best we can.

How could we do this in an unpredictable world?

Is there a way to harness this? How can each of us find a method for living gratefully. To find new vocation, a new way to work and stay connected.  How can we do it?

To get inspired, I recently listened to the wisdom of 94-year-old David Steindl-Rat, an American Catholic Benedictine monk, and he suggested a very simple method that I want to share with you. It’s so simple that it’s actually what we were told as children when we learned to cross the street.

Stop. Look. Go.

That’s all. But how often do we stop? We rush through life. We don’t stop. We miss the opportunity because we don’t stop. We have to stop. We have to get quiet. And we have to build stop signs into our lives.

I, for one, have been guilty of not stopping. Not until March 2020. For eight years in a row, I wanted to do more, achieve more, touch more lives, and I too rarely took enough time to appreciate “things we have done together” and “the lives we have touched.”

I now feel I too rarely stopped to show how deeply I appreciate the many good people in my life who have helped me in my MAD mission. My apologies for that. That you are reading this message means you are one of those good people without whom I could achieve little. I owe you a debt of gratitude. THANK YOU.

And guess what? Once we adapted to the new challenges, we achieved as much as ever, we made as much of a difference as ever. Do check out our 2020 report.

So now we look ahead. I agree with Michael Josephson when he says, “Whether we want them or not, the New Year will bring new challenges. Whether we seize them or not, the New Year will bring new opportunities. The year is ours to make of it what we will.”

STOP! LOOK! GO! To a healthy and prosperous New Year 2021!

With love and appreciation,

Victoria xx

PS. If you are not already, we’d be thrilled if you joined our MADclub (monthly givers), but even a single donation will help MAD-Aid kick off a more prosperous 2021.

Together for You

Posted on by mad-aid

TOGETHER FOR YOU

Just a few weeks after the new coronavirus arrived and caused a health crisis in Italy late February this year, the virus entered Moldova, presumably carried in by the many Moldovans working in that hard-hit country.

Moldova went into lockdown quickly, after the first few cases, because as citizens of this poor country we knew we were not ready to face a pandemic. MAD-Aid was established back in 2012 exactly with the purpose of helping to improve conditions in Moldovan hospitals. But of course, there is still a very long way to go before world standards can be achieved.

For MAD-Aid, the past six months have been hard. At Phoenix Complex in Riscani, most of the regular activities had to be paused. Phoenix Pool is under construction, still unfinished. Our Phoenix Centre staff and daycare children had to stay home, in isolation. Phoenix Home sits empty. Staff had to be put on redundancy pay.

It was hard to know how and where to start to “act now and act fast” when the situation is critical, and how to help fight the COVID-19. But as the saying goes, great minds think alike. Moldova has many civil activists who believe in their country and its people.

So was not surprise when Ana Racu and Anatol Untura joined forces to start a campaign to find ways to provide the health sector with basic supplies. The aim was to boost the morale of the doctors and medical teams—nurses, ambulance drivers, paramedics, caregivers—by providing them with minimum needs—water, tea, coffee, soap, hand sanitiser—and by being there for them when the state inevitably delays or is late in providing them the minimum protective gear required to keep them protected. In short, they wanted to keep the frontliners encouraged, to give them hope.

MAD-Aid jumped at the opportunity to join this enthusiastic team, initially offering the logistics support with our two sister organisations – MAD-Aid in UK and Moldova AID on the ground. Victoria immediately became an integral part of the team.

From idea formation to setting up the campaign took just 10 minutes of meeting and a few hours of work. Victoria, Ana, and Anatol had never met in person, yet within days, they managed to pull together over 2,000 donors, with large organisations, major donors, and individuals, to collect over 200,000 pounds.

The campaign in Romanian is called: Impreuna Pentru Voi. That translates in English to: Together for You. Care for caregivers was the main message.

Then the hard work started–where to buy, how to buy, how to meet high standards for the equipment and personal protection equipment (PPE), how to arrange logistics in lockdown with Anatol in Romania, Victoria in the UK, and Ana in Moldova.

But step by step, day and night, the team worked hard. They managed to source high-quality goods: first by persuading local manufacturers to produce quality PPE, using local factories whenever possible and then importing only after making careful assessments.

Below you will see the report in numbers, but it is important to mention that this colossal effort did give HOPE. The team with its supporters held the fort for the frontliners until the large donors came in, such as Romania Convoy, UN donations, and the EU. They encouraged so many other organisations and initiatives to do the same in their own way—to raise funds to support their own locations.

When we stand together, we can fight through anything. This too shall pass. And let’s hope too that this experience will leave us more compassion and empathic with each other.

You Are Not Alone In Isolation…

Posted on by mad-aid

Dear member of the MAD family,

Today my thoughts are very much with you, your family, and your wellbeing.

As you follow the mandatory shelter-at-home order, I invite you to take a minute to reflect on what “isolation” means for you now. How hard is it for you? How does it make you feel? What are you missing?

For the past five years, thanks to your generous donations and contributions, MAD-Aid has managed to keep 61 children with special needs out of isolation. They had been locked within four walls; some of them for as long as six to nine years, others up to 12 or 14. Every single day of their young lives, without a hope or a light at end of their tunnel, they lived in isolation, unable to go outdoors to see the sun or moon, the changing seasons.

Together we gave them freedom; we gave them a measure of independence. Please, in this hard moment, remember that you cared enough to end this kind of isolation for someone in this world. Can you put a price to that? You tell me.

Phoenix Centre is closed for now to protect the children, as they are more vulnerable. However, we keep them engaged in our online chat group.

I can assure you, the day when on national TV it was announced that the stay-at-home order was extended to the middle of May, not just the three weeks originally planned, they cried. Over time they have become more confident; now they do tell stories and look forward to the day the Phoenix doors open again.

Of course, the pandemic has also affected the status of our Phoenix Home and Phoenix Pool. In February, a team of teachers from the US, Mark and Cristina Ferguson, came to give workshops to upgrade the caretaking skills of our staff in Phoenix. And construction on the hydrotherapy pool was ongoing. Then came March, bringing COVID-19 to Moldova, and everything came to a screeching halt.

In Moldova, the situation with the pandemic is sadder than in the more developed parts of Europe. The decades of underdevelopment and neglect of the medical system are fully exposed and provide extraordinary challenges to meeting the current needs.

A couple of weeks ago, MAD-Aid was asked by two local civic activists and a local government to help raise funds and provide logistical support. Our group’s aim was to encourage the frontline medical teams–doctors, nurses, ambulance crews, caregivers, laboratory technicians—by providing them with basics.

Our original goal was to give them water, tea, and coffee. But thanks to the generous donations from over 2,000 individual and corporate donors, we were able to purchase and deliver ventilators, hematology analyzer, ECG equipment, tons of soap and disinfectant, and tens of thousands of gloves, masks, and personal protective equipment. Sourcing all that has been a challenge in itself, when the entire globe is looking for the same items.

MAD-Aid will keep going the best we can, we will stay steadfast and strong, and we hope in these difficult times you too will stay strong, healthy, and able to continue to support us.

Keep SAFE! Keep healthy! Keep strong!
We are in this together!

Victoria
with the MAD-Aid family

MAD-Aid TURNS SEVEN!

Posted on by mad-aid

SEVEN YEARS!

Is that a long period or a short one?!

Today, August 2, MAD-Aid celebrates seven years of charitable work. Over these many years we can emphatically say that we learned how to run before we allowed ourselves to walk. Not what we would suggest, looking back, but somehow we made it through.

From the start, the vision and aim of Victoria, the founder and locomotive of MAD-Aid, was to offer help where it was most needed, to leave a legacy, and, most importantly, as each program was designed and implemented, to eventually make them all sustainable. At the seven year mark we can assess how that’s all going.

The MAD-Aid name came from Medical Aid Delivered and Make A Difference.

Yet what MAD-Aid has accomplished in its first seven years is so much more than deliver a few trucks of medical aid or solve a few needy cases. Rather, we meaningfully touched thousands of lives. We can’t tell you the exact number but behind each number there is a story to tell, there is a human life.

Every program, every project undertaken, was built on lessons learned and from listening deeply to the real needs and points of pain of ordinary Moldovans on the ground.

Will you come take a walk through MAD-Aid’s memory lane with us?

If you’ve been with us since the beginning in 2012, you know that it all started with the “simple” idea of sending discarded and usable hospital equipment from the United Kingdom to Moldova, Victoria’s land of birth, and to other poor European nations. This first core program of medical aid delivery is still going strong and to date MAD-Aid has:

  • Recycled over 500 tons of usable quality equipment and saved it from UK landfill
  • Replaced the furniture in over 20 hospital wards in Moldova
  • Delivered over 700 wheelchairs and other mobility equipment to children and adults with physical disabilities
  • Furnished the day care centre for elderly in Mihaileni Village
  • Installed two full sets of dental equipment in the Nisporeni School
  • Delivered specialised haematology chairs to the children’s ward of the oncology hospital in Chisinau
  • Supplied equipment to Renasterii Centre in Riscani, a multifunctional centre that takes in and cares for the homeless, abandoned children, and more
  • Supplied furniture to Mihaileni and Riscani schools
  • Delivered equipment to Tony Hawks Centre in Chisinau
  • Provided logistics support to 17 medical professionals from Moldova who came to the UK for two weeks of ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) training
  • Gave furniture to Riscani police station
  • Gave equipment to Riscani fire station
  • Sent equipment to Bulgaria, Romania, and Africa with other partners when we were unable to raise the necessary funds for transport to Moldova

Our second core program responded to our discovery that hundreds of children in Moldova languished lonely and in the darkness of their bedrooms because they had no means to be mobile and their parents were poor and ashamed. Thus we embarked on the arduous road of securing space, raising funds and donations in kind, and renovating an old dilapidated kindergarten to build the world-class Phoenix Centre. After opening its doors in the fall of 2015, we:

  • Operated the day centre and early intervention and rehabilitation centre
  • Hired and trained 19 local staff and professionals
  • Cared for over 20 children and teens in regular attendance at the day centre, offering them an environment for learning, joy, and inclusion, and including special outings
  • Provided over 4000 treatments at the centre each year to over 200 children from north.
  • Ran a mobile early intervention and rehabilitation treatments project in remote villages
  • Carried out awareness-raising events and lobbied the government for the rights of children and adults with special needs

With the rich experience of Phoenix Centre under our belts we thought setting up our third core program would be a relative cake walk. We couldn’t have been more wrong. Repairing the second half of the dilapidated kindergarten structure into the first model care facility for elders has entailed a multitude of challenges, not least of which was raising the needed funds. It stretched the personal energy and inner resources of Victoria to the max.

With many helping hands and generous donors and partners, we are proud to have met our self-imposed deadline of June 22 this year for the soft launch of Phoenix Home. Our celebration of the completion of the renovations was indeed a joyful one, attended by so many supporters.

Much work remains to be done before the doors can be completely opened to elderly residents in September. This work includes all the tasks involved in hiring and training up to 25 additional local professionals and staff, drafting work processes, and further fundraising. We warmly welcome you to volunteer your time and skills in any of these areas.

Why is this program so important to us? Because it is Phoenix Home that we plan will eventually sustain the expenses of operating Phoenix Centre, and, remember, sustainability was the aim from the beginning. This residence for elders will provide professional yet family-style care in clean, comfortable, and fully accessible premises for comparatively reasonable fees in a global market where demand for senior facilities is high. Run as a social enterprise (non-profit), part of the income generated will help run the day centre for poor youth with special needs. That makes Phoenix Home a unique model that can be replicated not only in Moldova, but elsewhere.

The fourth core program that will complete our dream of the Phoenix Complex is the building of the first fully accessible hydrotherapy pool in Moldova. To complete the Phoenix Pool, we still urgently need and rely on your help and support (click to donate now).

The vision of the Phoenix Complex would not have been realized at the fast pace it has without MAD-Aid’s close partnership started in 2014 with Communication Workers Union Humanitarian Aid (CWUHA). Thanks to this special collaboration, together we’ve completed these additional projects:

  • Delivered 56 vans with aid from the UK and Ireland to Moldova (five additional next month)
  • Delivered aid to around 1000 needy children every year since 2015
  • Gave household items, food and necessities to 100 families in need a year
  • Set up a football tournament that empowered 210 children every year from south, centre and north of Moldova. Supplied the 14 teams with kits, football equipment for 14 schools, trophies and medals, and presents for each child for three consecutive years
  • Supplied equipment, furniture and aid to the Sport Republican Lyceum in Chisinau (from washing machine to boxing gloves, footballs to laptops and projectors)
  • Supplied aid to seven kindergartens
  • Supplied aid to Casa Comunitara Chisinau, centre for severely disabled children, Tony Hawks Centre, Hansa Centre for adults with special needs, Hincesti orphanage for girls with special needs, and Orhei orphanage for boys
  • Organised “a holiday of a lifetime” for 14 Moldovan youth to the UK

Throughout this journey, we have deeply appreciated the remarkable support of our steadfast board of trustees, the many open-handed individual and organisational partners, sponsors and donors, and the dedicated volunteers. We make special mention with gratitude of our collaborations with ChildAid, Sustainable Partners, PhysioNet, and most recently, The Little Edi Foundation. Last, but certainly not least, our heartfelt thanks to the devoted team of Moldova AID, MAD-Aid’s feet on the ground in Moldova, without whom none of our work would have been possible.

If you haven’t already, we warmly invite you to join our social media presence. We have built vibrant Facebook pages with over 2200 followers for MAD-Aid and 1100 for Phoenix Centre, as well as a MAD-Aid group of nearly 900 members. On these FB pages and on MAD-Aid’s YouTube channel you will find the photos and videos that record the difference we have made together.

Sadly, raising funds to achieve all our accomplishments has been—and remains—the most stressful and time-consuming of our work. We therefore created MADclub and are slowly building a growing membership of people who became part of the MAD-Aid family. These good folks see merit in giving monthly in order to invest in the long-term viability of MAD-Aid’s core programs and to provide an ongoing predictable cash flow that enables us to focus on serving. There lots of room in this club still and you can join here.

So looking back at all this we can admit that for us at MAD-Aid the past seven years feel both like a lifetime and a blink of the eyes. Will you continue on this journey with us for the next seven years?

Thank you for helping MAD-Aid Make A Difference.