For six years, World Vision Romania’s Bread for Tomorrow program has been supporting children in Romanian villages, through a hot meal and help with homework at school, every day.

Among the 100 additional children the organization want to include in this project, is teacher Cătălina Șuțu’s group of pupils.

The teacher is overwhelmed by the children's hugs. Florin, a taller boy, tells her: "I love my mother, but I love you too". At 10 years old, he is only able to write numbers. From his hand, all the letters look the same, glued together like a horizontal brace. The boy does not understand the notion of words and what delimits him, although he has already been in school for five years. This year, he went into second grade for the third time, after repeating it twice.

His parents cannot help him with the lessons because they only finished six school grades, and they are unable to afford private tutoring. Florin's mother works as a maid for several families in Călărași, while his father works the fields during the day. "My parents begged me not to leave him again. He is a pupil with special educational needs, who needs a lot of attention, maybe even specialized help, because he also has speech impediments", explains Cătălina Șuțu, his teacher.

Since the beginning of the program back in 2016, 82% of the children grades I-IV included in this program have had better results at Maths and 85% of them at Romanian Language, according to World Vision Romania. At the same time, 95% of the children attended school every day.

"If I could work harder with these children every day, I'm sure we would be able to see progress. They need time and attention dedicated especially to them, preferably through an after-school program that includes a meal, because they come from vulnerable families. You can't educate children on an empty stomach ", the teacher also explains.

Catalina's mission, as Florin’s and other children’s teacher, is not easy. But it is also not impossible, if we offer them the necessary support. World Vision Romania aims to include her pupils in the Bread for Tomorrow program, so that these children receive a hot meal at school and two hours of help with homework on a daily basis.

Currently, through this program, World Vision Romania supports over 1,300 children with a package of socio-educational services. In addition to hot meals and daily homework help, children receive counseling based on their needs, summer camps, and non-formal education activities.

To support a child for a month at school, World Vision Romania needs two completed 3,5% forms. In order to support another 100 children, the organization needs 2400 completed 3,5% forms.

Thank you for your time and for being children’s friend!