Good to see you again, dear friends!

          We were preparing to present to you how the months of January and February passed for us, here at Casa Ray, but in the light of the new events that have taken place on the border of our country, in Ukraine, our hearts and thoughts are preoccupied with these people, who are in great suffering and distress.

          We could not remain indifferent to the trauma our neighbors are going through and knowing that we have empty guest houses, we showed our willingness to accommodate some of those in need. This is how 22 people have been able to stay with God's help so far. Practically the Casa Ray home has doubled its number of "tenants", 22 children beneficiaries of our center and 22 guests.

          All those we have accommodated so far, are passing through Romania, and will continue their journey to their relatives who are further away, and in their place will come other people and so on … We expect a continuous flow of people.

           Blessings in the new year, dear collaborators!

          May all the possible hardships of 2022 make you stronger and may all the joys of 2022 form a heart full of gratitude.

          In short, we want to present you some aspects from the last month of 2021, December, the month of gifts.

          As every year, the beginning of this month was marked by the decoration of the house, both inside and outside, which makes us happy and gives us the strength to do all the things with joy, while we hum carols. (pictures 1 and 2)

          Of course, the traditional "Christmas cleaning" followed when each room was lined up and made "extremely tidy", the garden was also cleaned, the shed was supplied with wood and so on. (picture 3)

                Hello, dear ones!

               Autumn has come to an end, and winter has rushed to make its presence felt both through its specific cold and through a few happy snowflakes. However, we want to go back two months and tell you what we did at Ray House in October and November.

               We started by harvesting the last apples and the fodder beet. Thank God that this year too the orchard was fruitful and so was the garden. (pictures 1,2) From the fallen apples on the ground, we made jars of jam, only good for spreading on bread or for use in tarts.(pictures 3,4,5) We also received a donation of apples (and a pumpkin J) from Rotaru family from Bacau, to whom we thank, with the help of whom we made apple juice and put it for the winter. (pictures 6,7,8)

          Welcome back!

          May peace, tranquility and health accompany you every day. Warm greetings from Casa Ray - Dobreni - Romania.

          August and September were very busy for us, you can see this even after the "speed" with which we come to you with the monthly reports :)

          August, being the last month of summer and implicitly the last month of holiday, was marked by 2 camps, one for young people aged 14 and over and one for children. With God's help, because this year the restrictions were less during the summer, these camps could be organized.

          Good to see you again, dear ones! We hope you are well and healthy.

          At Casa Ray, with God's help, in the months of June and July, even though we went through some more difficult moments in terms of health, we overcame them all well. Ionela Matei (picture 1) was hospitalized for a week, being suspected of appendicitis, and the other children had to overcome an epidemic of enterocolitis, which "haunted" the whole country.

          As I said, we thank the Lord that now, at this time, we are all well.

          This period of 2 months, started with a holiday, on June 1 we celebrated CHILDREN'S DAY! Special thanks to our friend Heike Kunze, who together with her friends organized a small party for children with balloons, sweets, fruits and juices, exactly what children love the most. They felt pampered, and Father Mihai said a blessing prayer for them, which is very precious! (pictures 2-5)

          Welcome back!

          With God's help, this spring we planted about 25 new fruit trees in our orchard. Various varieties of fruit trees, from which we hope that in a few years, we can taste full of gratitude. We also planted raspberry seedlings that leave our mouths watering just as we think about them. (pictures 1 and 2) Spring cleaning was also important, the wind scattering on our property no less than 18 garbage bags.(picture 3)

          This spring was quite cold in our area, so the arrangement of the garden and the solarium was a little late, but at the end of April, the natural fertilizer was spread in the gardens, and seedlings and seeds of all kinds were planted. (pictures 4-6) God made it rain, made it grow, and at the end of May, we were already able to use greens from our own garden, and weeds were to be taken out… with bags. (picture 7)

          Greetings, dear friends!

          During the period when we haven’t heard from each, respectively the months of January, February and March, we had to face some challenges, but with God's help, this time we are well and working in normal parameters.

          The first challenge was to deal with a small staff and to quickly find replacements to take over the tasks. Mrs. Lica from the laundry got sick with covid, and after overcoming this disease she started to fight with a strong depression that she has not overcome yet, no longer being active in the Ray House. Mrs. Aurica from the kitchen turned 66 and wanted to retire because the 70 km commute she made to get to Ray House was too exhausting for her. Also, the sudden departure of my mother, who was involved in many aspects of the Ray House, left many gaps.

          We hope that we found you well and healthy, and the transition to the new year brought you new hopes and fresh strength to face whatever awaits us in this new year.

          After mother's sudden departure to the eternal ones, for a few days we were all paralyzed, in a state of shock, it was as if we were living another life, as if we had woken up in a story that could not be ours.However, even if we were hurt and astonished, we had to keep household chores in check and we had to take care of the scheduled things.

          We noticed a general mobilization among everyone, both employees, volunteers and children.Everyone was eager to put their shoulder to the wheel and support "our home" so as not to fall under this heavy burden.Even young people who had plans for the near future to continue their lives independently, changed their minds, saying: “I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying here to continue the work of mother Tatiana!”

          The house that the children live in, named Casa Ray, it was built 20 years ago. Improvements have been made every year. An important aspect we have not yet managed to administer/affix is the thermal insulation of the building.

In Dobreni County, the only heat source for the building is the central heating with solid fuel (wood). Without thermal insulation, the heat energy is pretty big, also the need of wood. For only one winter we need almost 30m³ of wood, which cost 11500 RON(2400 EUR). It is a big expense for us, that’s why we would like to reduce all these costs.