13th of December 2008:

Looking back at Easter time 2005, when we started with the dream of becoming cooks for the lonely souls, and came up with the idea of spending one day with the institutionalized children and another with the elderly, never would I have thought that only three years later we would bring together over 160 supporters and collect the astounding number of products that we had at this edition –
49,540 products!! 

It's ironic, we as a nation like to put ourselves 'in the corner' … We realized that there is an expiration date on blaming our society, our system, our politicians and anyone else for what is wrong with this nation today, and we proved that if we want change, as Gandhi so well said, "we need to be the change"!

In 4 weeks, we were able not only to bring joy to our souls, but first and foremost to 1,646 people living in poverty, institutions, and shelters. 

Below are a few pictures from this past weekend and as well links to more. They convey the impact of your collective actions…the impact of human empathy. 

On the 14th of December, when we visited the elderly shelters, we met Dinca Paun, a 43 year old who had both his legs and his right arm amputated. Dinca hasn't left his bed for two years, only because the shelter's internal regulations did not stipulate that the nurses could take him out, not to say that the shelter carried only one wheelchair that was at the disposal of those that are living on the second floor only; Dinca, is on the 1st! We received from Motivation (a wonderful non-profit, and also one of our beneficiaries which established a wheelchair production center by people with disabilities for people with disabilities), a wheel chair as a donation for Dinca! This IS OUR impact!

I give you all a round of applause and I thank you for making this happen once again.... 

I will leave you with a wonderful quotation of JK Rowling's which I feel describes each and every one of us,…if you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better."  

Merry Christmas to all of you, and all my very very best,

Alexandra

Here are the pictures from those wonderful days:

Balonul Copiilor
http://picasaweb.google.com/OBDOSister/2008BalonulCopiilor?feat=directlink

Elderly Shelters
http://picasaweb.google.com/OBDOSister/2008ElderlyShelters?feat=directlink

Tancabesti
http://picasaweb.google.com/OBDOSister/2008Tancabesti?feat=directlink

Preparation
http://picasaweb.google.com/OBDOSister/2008Preparations?feat=directlink