Ahead of the winter holidays, the Diaconia Social Mission is launching the awareness- and fund-raising campaign “In Mother’s Arms” and two new services for Moldovan and Ukrainian mothers and children.

“We are starting the Christmas campaign by opening two new doors with great joy - that of the Gâgâlici Early Education Center and that of the Saint Joseph the Merciful Guest House. Both services respond to the main objective of the Program - ensure the right of every child to grow up in a family, safely, maintaining a close connection with the mother”, reads a press release.

The awareness- and fund-raising campaign for the beneficiaries of the Maternal Center will continue until the end of December. On December 4, Diaconia will participate in the International Charity Fair with a stand of Christmas-themed products, crafted by volunteers and mothers from the Maternity Center. On December 10, there will be a charity workshop where a community of women and girls will make decorations for the winter holidays, which will later be auctioned off. All the proceeds from these events will go to the Maternal Center.

“The mothers we host at the Maternal Center enjoy these services for free. This is how we ensure that all social categories have access to quality educational services, by applying a social model of co-participation and inclusion of all community members”, said Mihaela Belei, coordinator of the “In Mother's Arms” program.

Since February and until present, 12 mothers from Ukraine and their children have received the Mission’s support in getting through their complicated situation. “These mothers are scared and stressed. They took their children, a suitcase of clothes and fled for dear life... They left behind their husbands, parents, house. They live in uncertainty and insecurity, some have nowhere to return even when the war ends, because their houses are no longer there, they were destroyed”, says Mihaela Belei.

At present, the Program consists of three services: the Maternal Center, the Saint Anne Multifunctional Center for Children and Family and the Early Development Center Gâgâlici.