Recent Visit to Romania

I have just returned from a very successful and interesting visit to 3 of our projects in Romania - Vis de Copil's "Secret Garden" Centre in Arad, Speranta Colonia in Petrosani and Providenta Divina in Petrila.  On this visit, I was accompanied by a new shop volunteer, Stephanie, who had never been to Romania before. Please read her observations in this PDF file....
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=E50D1C9DFCF19622!474&authkey=!ABmQZeZf8rbmk5Y&ithint=file%2cpdf

Christmas Late Night Shopping

We had a great night last Friday for the Late Night Shopping.  Hassocks was really buzzing, and we did a roaring trade - no doubt the free wine and nibbles helped! We took almost £500 on the night.  Thanks to all the volunteers who helped, and to all our lovely customers who came along and supported us.

September Newsletter

Please click on the link to have a look at our most recent newsletter.
www.humanityatheart.org.uk/newslettersept14.pdf

Summer at the House of Roses

Thanks Linda for your update on the summer's activities.

The four young residents in House of Roses have benefitted enormously from a busy and active summer. They have made a productive vegetable patch in the garden and extended the chicken run. This has provided a regular supply of fruit, vegetables and fresh eggs.

They have been taught to do everything themselves, from digging the ground, planting seeds, labelling, watering and picking the produce. As well as making immediate use of the produce they have also learnt to dry the herbs, make jam and bottle up fruit and vegetables for use through the coming winter.

They also enjoyed 2 weeks in summer camp with young children from very poor families and children with disabilities. As well as having fun they helped with cooking, collecting water, emptying the toilets etc. For the last 5 days they were joined by 2 of their friends with whom they had grown up but are now sadly living in inappropriate conditions in state care. It is hoped they will be joining the House of Rose family sometime this winter.

The regular donation from Humanity at Heart is enabling these young people with learning disabilities to be rehabilitated from the effects of previous bad experiences in state care and learn to lead normal and busy lives in their community.

Volunteer Tea Party

We had a lovely afternoon enjoying tea and cake at Kiki and Cole in Hurstpierpoint.  Luckily the garden had plenty of shade as we chose one of the hottest days of the summer!

Summer activities at Speranta Colonia, Petrosani

Adina and her team have once again planned many exciting activities for the local children during the summer holidays, both in the centre and outside enjoying the beautiful Romanian countryside.

We added a few photographs with some activities from the "Summer Club" with the children which made at "Handy hands" little fishes from cd-s (we are teaching the children to recycle materials) and fruits with worms. With a part of the children we went in a hike at our favourite place, at the "Lake with yellow lilies", where we had a great time and it was extraordinary.

Stella's work experiance

Hi, I’m Stella, I am in Year 10 (My first year of GCSEs) and this week I have been doing my work placement at the Humanity At Heart charity shop.

It has been really lovely to come to the shop again as I have been here many times before, since my Aunt is the Manager – though this time as part of the staff instead of a customer. I was welcomed by fellow volunteers and very quickly assigned my jobs. The rest of the staff here are all lovely and easy to chat to, since it’s a very relaxed and welcoming environment.

During the week I have been working in the sorting room as well as out in the shop:

sorting donation bags, steaming, tagging and pricing the clothes, shoes and other knick knacks; before taking them out into the shop and hanging them on the rails. It’s been really fun to learn the running of the shop, and I have learnt a lot about a working environment and I really enjoyed it. I have learnt that, although you can chat to the other staff and have a nice time – for example on Wednesday we celebrated Jean’s birthday with cake and tea – it is always good to help out whenever you can and stay focused on the task at hand. For example, cleaning and hoovering at the end of the day; making tea and handing out biscuits; and just getting on with your job without complaining – there is always something you can do to help out if you've finished all of your own jobs. My experience with Humanity at Heart has been really good fun as well as eye opening into the world of work. Thank you to all the volunteers who have been so kind and helpful throughout the week, you have made my work placement very enjoyable as well as educational.