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

"Dear Link Romania

Just a short note to pass on to you the impact your appeal has had to one family in a small village near Deva in Hunedora.We sent a shobox through your appeal in 2002 and we put our name & address inside together with a couple of photos of us and our cat. To our surprise and delight we recieved a letter from a 13 year old girl,Vasilica who had been given the box.

She told us a little about her mother and father and her brother and that she had leaned English at her village school. We have constantly kept in touch and in 2006 I travelled to Romania to visit, as I arrived Vasilica ran from her 4th floor flat to hug me. I met the whole family and realised how poor this family were, a small 1 bedroom flat, the mother and father slept on the settee whilst Vasilica (now 16)and her 15 year old brother shared the only bedroom.

In 2007 we learned that Vasilca had won the opportunity to go to the HighSchool in Deva, about 30 km away, she could not go, because the family had no money to pay the accomodation charges, Whilst we are not rich we decided to try to help and with a little adjustment to our lives we were able to provide the required money for her to attend, In the last 3 years she has achieved great success in her studies, and as her brother also won the opportunhity the following year to attend, he was also able to go as he could share the accomodation.

In June this year she completed her exams, gaining 4 Diplomas for achieving 100% in some of her subjects, therefore giving her some chance of gaining employment.

As a present we had arranged for her to travel to England for a brief holiday as my wife had not met her in person. Unfortunately, this story has a sad end, 2 weeks before she was due to travel, the car in which she was travelling was involved in a fatal collision and all 4 young occupants were killed.

I travelled back to Romania on 14th August (09) to visit her family and attend the Parastas (a type of memorial service). This was the most moving experience of my life. We will continue to support her brother until he completes his education and do whatever we can for the parents. Despite the tragic outcome, just from a simple shoebox through your appeal, the lives of 2 families have been improved beyond recognition. We are so happy that we found you and this proves the value of the work you do.

We will again be contributing towards this years appeal.

Thanks for all of your work"

Paul & Edna Jarvis

Norwich

Norfolk

To say we were gutted in the office is an understatement.  We would like to thank Paul and Edna Jarvis for all the love and support they have invested in that family and for letting us know what impact one shoebox had on so many lives.