Children who live at The Christian Center, an orphanage in Tulcea, Romania, will soon begin benefiting from an ongoing partnership between the Alabama National Guard and the Romanian government. During an upcoming summer visit, guardsmen will deliver badly needed supplies and donations to the orphanage from people around the state, including Alabama Baptists.
"The orphanage has a school, which has very few resources," said Otis Corbitt, an associate with the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions’ office of associational missions and church planting. Corbitt is also a chaplain in the Alabama Army National Guard. "The supplies they need are very simple," he said. "Logo or other inscribed items will be fine, as will undecorated ones."
Requested items include school and craft supplies, games, toys and books. The children at the orphanage range in age from infants to 17 and are either mentally or physically disabled. The facility is a barren three-story building devoid of wheelchair lifts, elevators and even glass for its windows.
"It’s too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter," said Capt. Wylly Collins, a Guard chaplain helping spearhead the orphanage relief effort. The Alabama/Romanian partnership is part of the U.S.-sponsored State Partnership Program, an initiative that pairs state military entities with newly emerging European democracies. Such partnerships, said Collins, often go beyond military-to-military relationships to include humanitarian relationships. "Not only are we allies militarily," he said, "but we can show the people we care."
For a complete list of the items being collected for The Christian Center and how to contribute, contact Corbitt at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 332. Donations for the upcoming trip must be received by the first week in June. Later donations will also be accepted.
Share with others: