Hundreds of Romanian and foreign volunteers arrive in Vaideeni to build homes for 2014 flood victims

Approximately 450 Romanian and foreign volunteers will participate in raising, in five days, 10 homes for 10 families in the Vaideeni commune of southern Valcea County that are going through difficult times, in a charitable action that started on Monday in the Valcea County locality with the support of an international organization with the mission to end precarious living conditions. 

According to Roxana Ciuhulescu, Senior PR expert with Habitat for Humanity Romania, hundreds of volunteers, among them journalist Adelin Petrisor, Olympic Judo champion Alina Dumitru, Olympic Marathon champion Constantina Dita, actors Tania Popa and Grig Chiroiu, as well as TV presenter Livia Graur, are going to work every day so these houses are done by the end of the week. 

"The Habitat for Humanity construction site in Vaideeni will host each day 240 volunteers who are coming from all corners of the country, but also from the USA and Canada, to give a hand to the 10 families in the community. Throughout the five days, hundreds of people will work side by side to offer the beneficiaries their first decent homes," Roxana Ciuhulescu said. 

She also mentioned that the houses will be built on a wooden structure in duplex and triplex system and will sit on a piece of land at the edge of the locality, in an area with no flood risk put forth by the Vaideeni Mayoralty. Half of the beneficiary families come from the flood victims that lost their houses due to heavy flooding in the summer of 2014 and who are now living in container houses made available by the authorities, while the others live in shanties in very hard conditions. 

"For them the priority when making the selection of beneficiary houses was the children. We, the mayoralty, made available the land and the utilities, the rest - construction material and, most importantly, labor, is the organization's contribution. It's an extraordinary action which solves 10 delicate problems. Beyond this social side, more impressive is the power of example. To see so many foreigners, from all around the world, from California - America, from Canada and other countries in the world, working for you it's like a goodness diet, a bubble of positive energy," said, for AGERPRES, the mayor of the town, Daniel Baluta. 

The mayor of Vaideeni also said that the structure of these houses was nearly complete on the first day, the members of the 10 families being among the persons who will work daily to construct their own houses, one of the conditions to be elected in the Habitat for Humanity program being also that the family dedicate 1,000 hours of volunteering in order to gain possession of their new houses. 

Among the donors of the project in Vaideeni are Kaufland Romania, Dedeman, Ariston, Bosch, Medlife, Tondach, Wienerberger, Veka, Saint Gobain, CEZ Group, Procter & Gamble, Aqua Carpatica, Habitat for Humanity Canada, Habitat for Humanity Merrimack Valley, Thrivent and Coca-Cola Romania. Furthermore, SMURD Valcea, the PACT foundation, Epics, the SMURD Foundation, the Romanian Gendarmerie, Delguard SRL and the Act for Tomorrow association are supporters of this project. 

The Vaideeni activity takes place as part of the accelerated construction and volunteering event BIG BUILD of the Habitat for Humanity organization, event that is at its 11th edition this year.