Congratulations to everyone who took part in the first ever Pancake Olympics in Worthing on Saturday 13th February.  It was freezing but our teams 'Flipping Heck' and the 'Recycled Teenagers' did brilliantly.  It was a joint fundraising venture between ourselves, Worthing Homeless Project, Guild Care and Worthing Hospotal Clearly "we was robbed" as we didn't win but gave it a really good go and managed to raise around £700 which was excellent. 

Days of continuous rain are causing floods in Northern Albania. Floods hit much of the north of the country, and particularly Shkoder district (120 km northwest of Tirana), displacing around 5,000 persons. According to authorities, no casualties resulted from the flood which is fortunate but many people are homeless and have lost everything.

Just to say we came back -  the Shoebox Delivery Team. We left on Sunday 29th November and returned Wednesday 9th Dec.  We visited Iasi in NE Romania where we not only delivered Shoeboxes but visited the kindergarten we support and saw the new building at the Farm of Hope. 

As we approach the 20th Anniversary of the fall of Ceausescu, Romania is again in a state of political crisis. The Social Democratic Party left the governing coalition on 1st October in protest over the sacking of one of their ministers. The Government then collapsed on Tuesday 13th October, after a vote of no confidence by the Parliament. Presidential elections are due to take place on 22nd November.

Just to let everyone know that the first Shoeboxes have appeared at the warehouse.  First to arrive were from Westbourne House Pre Prep School with 219 closely followed by Davisons High School for girls with 157 boxes - double the number they did last year which is fantastic.

This came by E-Mail to us this morning 19th August.  It shows the value of a shoebox

"Dear Link Romania

Link Romania have been really fortunate to gain places in the first ever Brighton Marathon.  We have 10 spots to give to supporters who are foolish... sorry..... fit enough to want to take part in what will be an amazing event.  In return we hope that they will gain sponsorship from their friends, relatives and collegues to enable us to support our projects in Eastern Europe - so everyone wins!

Link Romania is delighted to have teamed up with Kumon Educational UK. As part of their corporate social responsibility programme, leading education provider Kumon will be encouraging their large student base to get behind the 2009 Family Shoebox Appeal to help disadvantaged people in some of the poorest parts of Eastern Europe www.kumon.co.uk

For regular supporters of the charity you will know that we put on our first challenge in September 2008 - The Carpathian Challenge.  120km in 6 days through the beautiful hills of Romania.  We also raised £35k in the process which went to funds such projects as childrens playgrounds in Albania, building a new soup kitchen in Moldova and a new house for ex-orphanage boys in Romania.