HUMANITY AT HEART Working in Romania

Tuesday, 22 February 2011

Clothes Swap or Swishing Party

We are planning a "Swishing Party" at our charity shop on Friday 6th May.
Please put the date in your diary, and more details to follow.............

Upcoming Fundraising Concert by Vivace!

Vivace! will be singing for Humanity at Heart on Saturday 19th March, 7.30pm at the Adastra Hall in Hassocks.

Vivace! is a small Ditchling based choir, who sing for local charitable causes. The music is an eclectic mix, and their popularity is growing fast. Book now to avoid disappointment.

Tickets are £5, available from our shop in Hassocks, or on the night at the Adastra Hall.

Thursday, 16 December 2010

Help for the Elderly

In a recent blog you will have seen that we are setting up a program to care for some of the elderly residents in the Colony area. Adina and the volunteers have met, the planning has been done and the program has now started.

Several of the beneficiaries came to the centre to receive clothes that had been donated. They will be invited to the centre for some Christmas activities when they will also receive a shoe box gift sent out by Link Romania UK.

A big Thank you to all our supporters who answered our Christmas appeal. We have the funds we needed and the 20 elderly people on our program will now receive a much needed food parcel of essential items this Christmas.

Due to all the support and the efforts of the staff and volunteers in Romania these poor people will have a much happier Christmas than they could have expected.

Visit to The Social Centre of Lonea

The Children at the Colony Community Centre have visited the elderly people who go to the Social Centre in Lonea. This is the third year of visiting and their 5th visit. The children take gifts of home made cards and fruit and entertain the elderly people with songs and poems.
This little project has meant a lot to the elderly people and the children have said how much they enjoy it too. It is a real community building event.

Friday, 26 November 2010

Elderly Community Care

A new project starting in November is called Elderly Community Care and pictured left is the Manager, centre, surrounded by the volunteers. We have been supporting elderly people in the Colony Community for several years but we wanted to take a more planned approach as well as involving dedicated local volunteers. 20 elderly people were selected by Social Work volunteers and the manager, Adina as needing our help. Each person has an Individual Action Plan and we will be finding ways of helping and involving them at every step.

This Christmas we will be providing a food parcel, funded by our Christmas Appeal in the UK and at the moment we have enough to purchase 12 parcels. If you would like to donate £10 to provide one food parcel for an elderly person please donate on line through our website or post a cheque to the Charity office in Hassocks.
We have contacted Link Romania a UK Charity and they will be sending Shoe Boxes, so we will give a Christmas gift to each of our elderly people along with an item of warm clothing.
This is an ongoing project and we really hope that we can get a good group of volunteers involved to take this forward as a community building initiative.

Recent Events

Boxes full of specialist toys for our " Toy for Every Child" project have arrived in Romania, the photo on the left shows them loaded in my car ready to be taken to the truck depo. The project we are supporting is written by the St Andrews Association and is made up of teachers and parents of children with special needs based at the school in Vulcan.

Together, we decided that a toy library would really benefit the children and parents who could use them during home time and holidays.

Specialist toys are expensive in Romania so we decided to buy them in the UK and ship them to Petrosani, the photo on the right shows Larisa with the school Director collecting the boxes from our centre in Petrosani. The shipping costs were off set by the support of Wilkinsons Store who gave a gift voucher to spend on new toys and by the donation of good quality second hand toys by supporters. All the toys were sent packed in special plastic toy boxes and any spare space was filled with goodies for the school to use.

Thursday, 28 October 2010

I have recently returned from a trip to Romania.

I am pleased to say that I found every thing in order and the staff and volunteers have been working very hard. They painted the centre in the summer, pictured left, cleared the store room of rubbish and rats, ordered all the wood in readiness for winter as well as running the activities.

The centre had the Optometrists visit again to undertake eye testing and follow up on

the testing that is done by our volunteers, and the team is shown on the right. The screening program is running well with our own testing taking place every month. 81 people were looked at and tested.

Whilst I was at the centre I talked over a project for helping the elderly which we hope to start in November. We will have an individual action plan for each of the 20 local elderly people and hope to give them a constructive package of assistance. Adina also started planning for the shoe boxes that will arrive for Christmas and they will be distributed through several local associations and churches. I had time to take a staff training session that went very well.

I visited The St Andrews Association in Vulcan that is made up of parents and teachers of special needs children, shown on the left. Together we are putting together a project for a toy library that is called, " A Toy for Every Child". I have some funding and have started to pack the boxes that will be sent out in November. We do not usually sent items out to Romania but good quality educational and construction toys are very expensive so it was the best way. I look forward to hearing how this project helps the children.

We accomplished a great deal during the week and I am confident that the centre is becoming very established in the area doing good work and helping a great many people.

Michelle

About the Charity

Humanity at Heart (Reg. Charity No. 1042937) is a small, independent charity, based in a village called Hassocks in West Sussex, England, where we have a charity shop.

Opening hours are:

Monday to Friday 9.30-4.30.

Saturday 9.30-5pm

Established in 1990, in response to the media coverage of conditions in Romania following the Revolution, Humanity at Heart started by sending out lorry loads of aid to the orphanages. Subsequently our focus has changed to long term community based projects.

We provide funding for Romanian-led initiatives in the community, thereby fostering and supporting an ethos of self-help. We fund a voluntary project helping the elderly in Petrila, and provide significant funding for a therapy centre for children on the autistic spectrum, a day centre in Arad for poor families and street children, a day centre helping a poor Roma community, as well as project which provides a small home for 6 youngsters with special needs in Birlad.

Privacy Statement

PERSONAL DATA PRIVACY NOTICE

Humanity at Heart (HaH) is a small charity with a limited need to collect and process data from our donors, other supporters, volunteers and other contacts (collectively, “our Contacts”) . As such we have not considered it necessary to register under the Data Protection Act 1998.

However, the implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May 2019 and the upcoming new Data Protection Act impose new obligations on HaH in relation to personal data, which this notice addresses.

Personal Data

For the purpose of this notice, the term “personal data” means data relating to a living individual which allows that person to be identified. Such identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession.

HaH is unlikely to acquire personal data from any source other than the individual identified by the data or someone acting on such individual’s behalf and with their knowledge.

Data Controller

HaH is the data controller (contact details below) as it decides how personal data is processed and for what purposes.

How HH Uses Personal Data

HH acquires personal data in various ways.

We use your personal data for the following purposes: -

· To maintain records of our contacts who have expressed an interest in HaH’s work and to send communications about the activities of HaH , to such individuals from time to time;

· To fundraise for HH, which will include processing of donations by means of Gift Aid or similar tax efficient arrangements;

· To manage our employees (if any) and volunteers;

· To maintain HaH’s accounts and records;

HaH does not access bank account, credit card or similar financial data from donors.

Security and Other Matters

HaH is committed to ensuring that personal data is maintained securely and is protected from loss, unintended destruction or damage and from unauthorised or unlawful processing; it has put in place suitable physical, electronic and organizational procedures.

HaH will not collect or retain excessive amounts of personal data and will, to the extent it is able, keep the personal data it needs up to date.

Retention

Personal data will be retained in relation to each of our contacts and volunteers as long as relevant law requires or, if longer, so long as we consider there to be an ongoing relationship to an individual. After that time such data will be securely destroyed.

Legal Basis for Processing Personal Data

Personal data is processed on the following bases:

· For our contacts and volunteers, explicit consent of the individual in relation to one or more of the data uses set out above.

· For employees, processing necessary for carrying out obligations under employment, social security or social protection law, or other relevant laws;

Sharing Personal Data

Subject to the following or to the requirements of any relevant law, personal data will be treated as strictly confidential and will only be shared among the trustees of HaH and HaH will not share personal data with third parties. Personal data may also on occasion be shared with volunteers working with HaH.

Personal data may also need to be shared with tax authorities to allow for tax reclaims or other processing of donations qualifying for tax benefits.

Rights in Relation to Personal Data

Unless subject to an exemption under the GDPR, individuals have the following rights with respect to their personal data: -

· The right to request a copy of any personal data which HaH holds;

· The right to request that HaH corrects any personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date;

· The right to request that personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary for HaH to retain such data;

· The right to withdraw consent to the processing at any time

· The right to request that HaH provide a copy of personal data, and where possible to transmit that data directly, to another data controller, (where applicable).

· The right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of personal data, to request a restriction is placed on further processing;

· The right to object to the processing of personal data, (where applicable)

· The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office.

Further processing

If HaH wishes to use any individual’s personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this notice, then we will provide that person with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, HaH will always seek such individual’s prior consent to the new processing.

Contact Details

To exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints please in the first instance Ann Heroys via email, humanity@humanityatheart.org.uk or by phone 01273 846135

You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF.

May 2018