Mia's Children Foundation, Inc.

Bucharest, December , 2008

Dear friends and precious supporters:

May The Love , The Peace , The Hope who come into the world in this Christmas Night to cheer up your souls , to delight your spirits , to fill your life !

Mia’s Children want to take the opportunity of the holidays to thank you all for your help, and to wish you a wonderful season, good health, peace and love , safety life , and a New Year in which the sun will always shine on you!

The children are doing well, getting ready for the winter break, and in the meanwhile enjoying their presents, the various parties they have been invited to, and preparing their shows for each party. The fall term is ending well in kindergarten and in school; they have been applying themselves quite diligently, with visibly good results.

Again, many thanks and our best wishes to you all!

Mia’s Children

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In November, Dana Moldovan introduced to us Dr. Maria Derevenco, a Romanian-American psychologist, who became a volunteer for our Association. Following are a few words from her.

“On behalf of Mia’s Children, I feel compelled to offer an introductory opinion.

I am a US-trained Doctor of Psychology, and an Assistant Professor at Columbia University. I have worked with my share of underprivileged children, and have tried to implement policies for this population. The only successful ones were family and home-based interventions. This is exactly what Mia’s Children has managed to implement, against all odds.

What Mia & Costel Scarlat, the hearts of the program, have brought to life is truly extraordinary and unprecedented, to my knowledge, in Romania.

In my professional opinion, what has been accomplished so far with regard to the social integration of these children, their participation in education, discovery and cultivation of their special abilities (music, art), assumption of responsibility for self and for others, respect and gratitude for their “parents” & for all who take part in their care, is beyond outstanding.
What has impressed me to the core of my soul is how these kids have been taught to love, to express their love, and to ask, uninhibitedly, to be loved back.

Respectfully, with best regards,
Dr. Maria Derevenco
e-mail: mrd3@columbia.edu

To all our friends and supporters:
We first want to thank God for the help and love you have directed at us.

Even as the entire world is wreaked by a period of crisis and turmoil, our daily lives prove that even at such hard times, God allows people to maintain hope and to create bridges among each other, spreading love, light and compassion, and to support our needy children.

We have to say that, even in Romania, in the spirit of Christmas, more and more people have opened their hearts to us, and started to pay more attention to the work we do. As a result, our children have had a safe and joyous time, and have received not only a lot of love, but also much needed presents, such as food, clothing, books,: they also went to a skating rink for the first time, and to see a first-run movie. The photos attached will show you how much happiness and joy our children experienced on each occasion during the last three months.

This fall has been fruitful for us. To begin with, we have about 20 children who started school, Gabriele and Mihaela for the first time. We want to send special thanks to Miriam Gianasso from Switzerland and to her school, as well as to the ING Foundation and to the Rotary Club, for sending us much-needed help in proving books and school supplies for all the children. It was great to see all the children being ready for school!

We also want to thank Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation, who sponsors five of our kindergarten kids and some of the adolescents from the Vocational Highschool.

Dana Moldovan also deserves special thanks for sponsoring another two children as does Olivia Casscadden.

It is a great joy for us to see how young men such as Bogdan, Costi and Marius have entered college, while also working part-time; Mihaela, Tabita, Marinela and Marian also try to work while continuing their studies. Bigo and Gigi started to work, and are now self-sufficient, and able to help their needy families.

This fall also saw the opening of the movie “Money Exchange”, featuring Gabriela. Her spontaneity and expressiveness impressed everyone. She has become a symbol of what can be accomplished through our work, as well as to the power of all those who support Mia’s Children to change a life. This is a living example of how we live our motto,”Invest in a child today, rather than in a prison tomorrow.”

Another fruit of our work has been the admission of four of our children to the Choir of the Romanian Radio, for a total of eight participants to the best ensemble in the country, which is also famous throughout the world.

Among others, we mention our participation in the painting exhibit at the Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation; our participation to the Intergeneration Meeting of this foundation, during which our children sang and danced for the elders, and presented them with hand-made gifts; we presented a singing and dancing show for the First Lady of Senegal.

Among many other activities, the children completed 130 paintings for the Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation; besides the happiness of putting their creativity to use, the children learned an important lesson about the virtues of honest work and of helping others.

Many friends of Mia’s Children from the Rotary Club and others have spoken about our kids, thus bringing us visibility and further help. Although these friends are too numerous to mention, we extend our deepest thanks to them.

Our biggest help has been our mother Foundation, from which we derive the largest portion of our spiritual support, love and encouragement and most of our funding. We could never express enough our gratitude!

Our thanks and prayers go to Ariadna , Mihai, and their children, who have so generously put a roof over our heads.

Prayer requests:
*for the current world crisis to end
*for the new leaders of the US and of Romania to exercise wisdom and respect for God and humankind
*to continue praying for a stable home for our children
*for sponsors and new opportunities
*for good health for our children, ourselves and our supporters

May God bless you all this Christmas and in the coming year! We love you and thank you all!

Mia’s Children Association

Please excuse the delay in the news from Mia’s Children. There was an illness going around among the children and Mia with high fevers. But they seemed to be feeling much better now.

I spoke with Mia today by phone. She was really upbeat about the good things going on for the mission. One of the most important is the commission to paint for the Princess Margareta Foundation. The kids have been asked to paint 130 different winter and Christmas scenes. They used acrylic paint, wood boards, and 2 different types of canvas. In return the mission will be paid a small amount but it is such a blessing that they are learning to earn money thru their talents. It also builds their self esteem and confidence.

The Rotarians are continuing to mentor the older children as they become young adults. Thanks to the Rotary Clubs here and in Bucharest that are helping with food also.

A lady from the States who is a Romanian citizen has come into contact with our mission and the children and has fallen in love with them. She has made a commitment to help Mia. Everything is in the planning stages now, but thank the Lord for more help.

Another person is trying to find a way to help with the purchase or building of a new home for the kids. Again this is just in the beginning.

Mia has been asked to teach painting to the elderly and some younger children about 2 hours a week. In turn the sponsoring organization will feed our 30 kids a complete meal. Mia has more work than you can imagine with all our kids, but she is going to attempt this task also.

One of our sponsors has donated monies for Christmas which is rapidly coming. There is always needs for help from others for the children. If you can send a donation at this time of the year, please do. The address is Mia’s Children Foundation, 9245 Poplar, Ste 8, #380, Germantown, TN 38138. All donations are tax exempt.