Support for 200 vulnerable children and mothers

Hi friend,

In Europe, it is a summer holiday season and many families are heading for a break when children are not in schools or nurseries.

But what if you are a single mother, what if your income level is low and you are to work without holidays? What if you are a mother who is struggling with your physical or mental health? What if you are abused? Can you imagine the extra load these mothers have to carry while raising their children and while planning their activiteis for holiday season.

As always, Romi's Way wants to step up for these mothers and provide them an hour or two of time to rest without worrying about their children. We are planning activities for school-aged children where they can be safely outdoors under adult supervision and take part on guided activities, while mamas can have some valued rest time at home.

Your kind support is greatly valued by our team and volunteers, becasuse of people like you, our work is possible.

Have a lovely day

With thanks

Romi's Way team

Hello dear friend,

We say it a lot, but every time it resonates: Being a mother is the hardest job in the world! In most times, it feels the most rewarding too, but this is the case where we feel supported and balanced to do the hardest job in the world. Imagine doing this while living in hostile environment (war or conflicts in your country or at your home - or worse, both!) or while being the single adult in your family, trying to make everyone's needs met.... Or when you are struggling with your health (physical or mental), and are so sleep deprived you hardly remember your name... Or you have no/ limited income and you are eaten by financial worries.....

Mothers are the backbone of our society, being the primary support function for children (dads are great too, but biologically they cannot replace the role of a mother). We are here to be the voice of those many exhausted, wounded, hurt, struggling, depressed, worried mamas out there, who are doing their best to support their little ones (and mostly putting their own needs last).

Since the war in Ukraine started, Romi's Way has been collecting funds to support our trusted partner in Poland, doing cross-border operations and providing food, clothing and healthcare items for 1045 orphans in Kiev. While we continue doing that with the funds we gather here, we are also acknowledging the needs of mothers living in hostile environments in Ukraine and those who are left to run their families as a single headed household while partners are fighting the war, or have lost their lives. Our heart, our thoughts of love and empowerment and our call for your support is to stand by the mamas in Ukraine, so that they can support their little ones to grow with security, warmth and joy (as much as possible) and look after their own coping and recovery too. Easier to say than do, but with your help, we have a change to support.

Thank you for your kind support so far, people like you makes our work meaningful and address and acute need that is out there in the world.

Kindest regards,

Sari Bernardo- CEO, Romi's Way

Dear Friend of Romi's Way,

As always, we want to express our gratitude for your kind donation/s towards our project. This summer we partnered with a Polish registered non-profit organisation called Fundacja Moc Przyszosci and teamed up to support 1045 orphans in Ukraine.

War is a major imbalance, and Romi's Way is mandated through our mission, vision, values and strategy to aim to restore balance for humans, animals and environment. Therefore, supporting the most vulnerable and innocent victims of war is at the heart of our work. These 1045 children have already faced unimaginable loss by losing their parents and their home country is far from safe. With the help of cross-border operating Fundacja Moc Przyslosci we are able to ensure our support is directly going to the children, supporting their mental, physical and emotional development.

Until further notice, Romi's Way has been donating majority of our funds from this project to purchase food, essential items, books and toys for our little friends in Ukraine who need all the support, love and care the world can give them.

Will you help us to help more? Please, if you are in a position to give, support our efforts to continue helping the orphans with their ongoing needs.

thank you for having a heart,

Sincerely Yours,

Sari Bernardo -CEO Romi's Way

Hi dear friend,

Our latest efforts over the past months have been focusing on supporting children in Ukraine- in this case, an orphanage with hundresds of extremely vulnerable children in need.This is all done in cooperation with our Polish partners, in Ukraine but as cross-boarder support.  We are in process of reporting what this means in practise, with photostory in August, so therefore we are keeping this report now short... Just gently informing to " watch this space" for more news to follow shortly.

we do love every opportunity to thank our amazing donors, so huge thanks to you again! If you wish to extend your kind support to allow us to reach more children in huge need, we are welcoming donations woth open arms.

Kindest regards and gratitude,

Sari Bernardo/ CEO, Romi's Way

Dear friends,

Due to the needs and crisis in Ukraine, Romi's Way has decided to do all we can to support the  mothers and children in Ukraine. We are a women-lead organisation, mostly consisting of mothers, and our thoughts are with all the families affected by the conflict. Being a mother is the hardest job in the Universe, and doing this job in a war context is a challenge nobody should face.

Leaving your home behind with one back only means you are leaving behind your loved ones, family, friends animals. From a mothers' perspective, we know travelling with young children means that one back would normally only be filled with nappies, baby-formulas, toys and child clothes. If you only have one back to take with you when fleeing your home, it is likely that you will not fill it with nappies....

We have now collected large volume of baby and child clothing, childcare items, toys, bedding and some medical supplies and nappies for mothers and children in Ukraine. These will be delivered to Ukraine from Portugal via truck shipment, which is arranged by the city of Porto.  We wish from the bottom of our hearts that we could do more, and hope we will be able to collect more daily essentials to those in need. In addition, we have decided to gather some learning materials related to trauma and coping as well as child care in Ukrainian language to our Mother2Mother network, so that mothers can stick together, share and find peer support from this global group also in Ukrainian language. We are hoping to launch this network in May 2022. We have connected with non-profit organisations in Poland in order to explore possibilities of supporting mothers and children who have fled to Poland. 

In order to continue our support, we would be so grateful for your continuous support. With 1000Euros per month, we can collect and purchase daily items, rent the van for collection and delivery in Porto, pay an external driver for 2-3 days a month work, translate some materials to Ukrainian for the mother2mother network and keep building relationship and connections with other NGOs in Europe supporting Ukrainian mothers and children. We work mostly voluntarily, but if funds would allow, we would also consider having part-time support for 3-6months to coordinate the project and support with item packaging and purchases. We work with 100% honesty, transparency and extremely cost efficiently, so your donated funds will go to cover most acute needs and each euro can be traced. 

Lastly, we ask you to send your best thoughts, wishes and intentions to Ukraine and to people, animals and environment in Ukraine. World needs balance, and empathy and kindness is the remedy against any darkness and injustice. World uniting in compassion and empathy to defend those abused is an act that has power over political decision. We need your love, light and compassion. 

With gratitude,

Sari Bernardo -CEO, Romi's Way