Donations Help Bring Hopes and Homes to Romanian Orphans
Imagine if you never had a chance to choose the clothes you wear or the food you eat. Imagine if you never had a mother to care about you or to show up at a Mama's Day show. Imagine if you grew up in a facility that resembled a prison more than a real home. This was the plight of many Romanian orphans.
Today, more than 8,000 children are still abandoned in Romania, in old and remodeled placement centers. Sixty percent of these kids suffer from disabilities, and most of those who are 3 or older will never be adopted.
By 2020, Hopes and Homes for Children (HHC) expects to close down all the old communist orphanages in Romania and help these kids find a warm home with a real family. And HHC knows how to do it. In the last 12 years, the nonprofit has helped more than 5,000 Romanian children leave old orphanages and saved 1,074 other kids from being abandoned in institutions that cripple their lives.
The new and upgraded Microsoft software HHC has received through TechSoup Romania — including Project Professional, Office Professional Plus, and Windows 7 Professional — has helped the staff of the organization work more efficiently. The donations have also enabled HHC to offer some of the kids they work with the opportunity to learn computer and Internet skills.
