Partnership with Habitat pentru Umanitate Romania

About Habitat pentru Umanitate
Habitat pentru Umanitate is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. HFHI is a non-profit, ecumenical Christian organization dedicated to eliminating substandard housing in the world. Habitat assists people in need to build simple, decent homes and to purchase them through no-interest loans. Individuals, churches, corporations and other organizations help Habitat achieve its mission by donating funds, building materials and labor. Millard and Linda Fuller founded Habitat for Humanity in 1976 in Americus, Georgia (U.S.A.).

How the Good Samaritan-Habitat pentru Umanitate Partnership Started
Since 1989, there have been very few employment options for teenage orphans in Romania, particularly since the government no longer provides jobs for them.In the spring of 1998, several orphans were struggling to find jobs and finally approached the local Habitatpentru Umanitate in Beius about construction work.Some of the orphans were part of Good Samaritan, while others were not. Habitat hired three orphans, but could not hire all the youth who needed work. However, based on an idea from a prior pilot project, Good Samaritan and Habitat pentru Umanitate developed a sponsorship program whereby a donor would sponsor a Good Samaritan orphan for one year to work for Habitat pentru Umanitate.

How the Partnership Works
Donors sponsor one or more orphans for one year. The donations are given to Good Samaritan, which provides benefits, salaries, and support and counseling to the youngsters. The orphans then work on the Habitat pentru Umanitate construction site for one year, and the donors receive quarterly updates on their progress. As a result of this partnership, Habitat pentru Umanitate has another "volunteer" worker who can help build homes, while Good Samaritan is able to provide the youth with paid, valuable work experience in construction. Specifically, the youth learn such skills as building foundations, creating sidings, tiling, dry walling, painting, roofing, insulating walls, stuccoing, and installing doors and windows. These skills will help the youth obtain jobs with professional construction companies.

Goals
The goals of this program are to expand the partnership between Good Samaritan and Habitat pentru Umanitate in all the communities where there are orphans and where there is a Habitat pentru Umanitate affiliate, so as to serve as many orphans as possible in developing their construction skills.

If you are interested in sponsoring a youth, please contact the Good Samaritan by clicking here.