For over 30 years, Children in Distress has cared for children and young adults In Eastern Europe in the most difficult moments of life. We have provided medical and social care in Ukraine, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria and Croatia. In the past 10 years our service has focused primarily with orphaned terminally ill children and young adults in Romania..

Now is the time to mobilize together for the hundreds of thousands of children and mothers in Ukraine who are fleeing the war. Recent reports state that of the over two million Ukrainian refugees thus far, more than half of them are children. Thankfully, most are accompanied by their mothers or other family member.

Children in Distress is soliciting funds to support Ukrainian children and their mothers/caregivers as they flee their homeland. Our support is food and water, which was developed within three days, is transport away from the border to Bucharest, accommodation in Bucharest, and logistics for onward travel to family or friends or location of temporary housing in Bucharest.

The funds raised by Ukraine Children in Distress will be used to purchase:

• medicines
• first aid kids
• disinfectants
• baby care products (baby food, powered milk, pacifiers, nappies/diapers, wet wipes, burping blankets)
• soap and shampoo
• hats and gloves
• feminine hygiene kits
• tinned food (with tin opener) and other non-perishable (dry) foods
• disposable plates and cutlery
• bottled water, shatterproof water bottles
• blankets
• sleeping mats
• sleeping bags
• power banks and charging cables.

Those who live in Bucharest may drop donations at our St Margaret’s Hospice, Str Radu de la Afumati 16, Sector 2, 020667, tele 021 210 3121. There is 24-hour door service. Please drop items by late Friday afternoon.

Those who wish to contribute financially through Ukrainian Children in Distress may do so by donating here: DONATE(PLEASE MAKE CERTAIN THAT YOUR DONATION IS DESIGNATED Ukrainian Children in Distress)

Also, please find below our detailes for wire transfer  :

BENEFICIARY / ACCOUNT HOLDER: FUNDATIA C.I.D. – ROMANIA
FISCAL CODE: 15467650
BIC/SWIFT: BRDEROBU
IBAN FOR DONATION(S) IN ROMANIAN RON: RO12BRDE441SV20937824410
IBAN FOR DONATION(S) IN BRITISH POUNDS: RO08BRDE441SV20937904410
IBAN FOR DONATION(S) IN EU EUROS: RO15BRDE441SV55470734410
IBAN FOR DONATION(S) IN US DOLLARS: RO84BRDE441SV46002154410

*foto credit Reuters /PETER LAZAR / AFP

HRH Princess Maria
Royal House of Romania
Royal Patron, Children in Distress

Valentina Zaharia Smith
CEO
Children in Distress

Children in Distress appeals for funds to support our newest mission to provide food, medicine, accommodation and relocation care for Ukrainian children and their mothers/caregivers. The goods will be delivered to Isaccea, on the Romanian side of the Danube border with Ukraine. It is the closest border crossing to Bucharest, a 4-hour, 275 mile drive to the northeast. Isaccea is the primary evacuation point for refugees leaving Odessa and southwestern Ukraine into Romania, including heavily bombed Mykolaiv. We then will transport evacuees who wish to go to Bucharest, whether to stay for the long-term or arrange transit to another location.We have arranged accommodation and food at the Sfanta Irineu refugee centre, sponsored by the city of Pantelimon, near Bucharest. Evacuees will be hosted there while we negotiate temporary residency or onward transit.

March 12, we joined a self-organized caravan to carry our first supplies to Isaccea. We had CID’s van and another larger van stuffed with goods, as well as eight volunteer cars. Among the volunteers in their cars were a dentist, doctor, pharmacists, IT people, a singer. We drove to the border city of Isaccea, a border crossing 275 miles north of Bucharest, and the closest crossing to Bucharest. Isaccea is the central evacuation for refugees leaving Odessa and southwest Ukraine.

After the 4-hour drive, we unloaded most of our goods at the farm of Madame Mihaela. She is the major transit point for food and other goods from Isaccea into Ukraine. She is not a social worker or in the armed forces – simply a woman with a huge heart called to serve her neighbour Ukrainians. She has constructed tents to protect the goods from the snow and bitter cold and wind.

Madame Michaela coordinates when these goods will leave for Ukraine by ferry across the Danube border to Ukraine. The goods are picked up by queues of vans and cars of brave Ukrainians who distribute supplies to those queuing to cross into Romania, and onto to villages and towns under fire in southwestern Ukraine.

After leaving Madame Michaela, we drove to port and border crossing of Isaccea. There we deposited medical supplies with Romania and Ukrainian ambulances, and food, including 400 sandwiches, water, and hygienic items and medical kits for the arriving evacuees.

A ferry runs back and forth from Ukraine to Isaccea. Each crossing takes an hour one way. From Ukraine, refugees are brought to Romania. All are on foot, having been bussed as far as possible to the Danube port on the Ukrainian side. The evacuees arrived cold and tired into Romania. Their faces were shell-shocked, blank, worried, bewildered. They carried very few possessions. Most adults carried a backpack and sometimes pulled a roll bag. Some children carried a stuffed toy. Some evacuees had their belongings stuffed into nothing other than plastic shopping bags. To see a lifetime mashed into two shopping bags was a hard thing to see. There were strollers with babies, and pets in carriers and dogs on leads.

Once the evacuees disembark, the ferry was loaded with goods from Madame Michaela’s farm, along with men who are going to Ukraine to join the defence of Ukraine. We met one from New York City, another from London, another from New Jersey.

Our 15 member team was assigned as the welcome team, possibly because we had several languages. We were given bright orange uniforms, which read “’volunteer” in English, Ukrainian and Romanian. We were allowed at the front of the first police line and met the evacuees as they disembarked and accompanied them through the immigration process. Due to language issues, we became unofficial members of the immigration team, which consisted of only two officers. Once cleared, we walked with the evacuees through a final police check. We helped those struggling with luggage, wheelchairs, strollers and pets. Just outside the second police line there were volunteers at a hot food centre, also with pet food and carriers. Very impressive. All of it was gratis, and the workers all volunteers.

Most of the refugees were too anxious to eat and wanted to know about the next stage of their journey. We escorted the refugees into heated tents, which were sectioned into areas where the evacuees hoped to travel. Most do not plan to stay in Romania but wish to get to family and friends in western nations. The volunteers and official translators did their best to get people to the right section for their onward journey.  

Outside the tent is a long queue of volunteers willing to drive evacuees to various locations. There is an officiant registration system for transporting the guests. This registration procedure takes time but is essential to avoid human trafficking.

Eventually, after a three hour wait, our caravan was assigned with passengers who wanted to go to Bucharest, then further. The CID van was assigned six people from near Odessa – a grandmother with cane, her two grandsons (sadly, the great-grandmother was left), and a separate mother, her daughter and her sister.

We drove our guests the four hours back to the Sfanta Irineu centre. We passed a convoy of tanks headed to the Ukrainian border. You can see the video. The evacuees spent the night at the centre, where they were fed, had a warm shower, and we hope a little sleep.

Very early Sunday morning we took the grandmother and her grandsons to the train station and connected them to a bus to Istanbul, where they have family. The personnel at the train station were mostly volunteers and clearly under a lot of strain, but friendly and helpful.

The other family whom we drove to Pantelimon have a daughter/sister in Milano, and that is where they wished to go. It took a few days to obtain bus seats, but eventually we got them on a bus. They had no funds for the trip, so CID (YOU!) provided their bus fare.

CID returned to Isaccea with our two vans full of supplies, which we dropped at Madame Michaela’s. Some of the supplies were donated by students and families of the British School of Bucharest; we are grateful for their generosity.

HRH Princess Maria, of the Royal House of Romania, accompanied us on the trip. Princess Maria is Royal Patron of CID.

Through Princess Maria’s interest we were given a tour of the entire refugee complex.

We also reconnected with several of the volunteers whom we met on our prior visit. It is a blessing to have these connections because we know quickly learn what help is urgently needed and what is not so urgent. We also met an animal care centre and vet. The vet provides microchips and immunizations for the evacuees to bring their pets into Romania and Europe.

We then waited several hours for evacuees to be assigned to us who wanted a ride to Bucharest. We hosted an Armenian family from Odessa – grandmother, son and daughter-in-law, and two children –in our vans to the Pantelimon centre.

We arrived very late at Sfanta Irineu because of needing to go off the road so tank convoys could pass. Naturally the family were tired and unnerved by the time we reached Sfanta Irineu. The fact that we could not communicate except through Google translate and the tank convoys make it an interesting journey.

The Armenian family has a relative in Strasbourg, and by Tuesday CID was able to purchase them seats on a train to Strasbourg.

CID’s vans made another trip to Isaceea. After dropping off food and other items at Madame Michaela’s, we went to the port to welcome refugees.

We again met up with our new volunteer friends, who continued to operate the vet clinic, free food to eat or carry for the onward journey, and a stuffed toy shop

We were not able to provide evacuee transport to Bucharest, as the Romanian government has changed its policy to allow only official government transport due to human trafficking concerns. This policy position is understandable, as easily 90% of the refugees we have met are younger mothers and children.

Following this trip, we will assess whether more border trips are essential or whether the greater need has developed in the government refugee centres in Bucharest. It is difficult to tell at this point where the greater need will be.

Thank you!! to those who have donated to this humanitarian effort. You had made this possible. We welcome a first time contribution or an additional donation on this website. There is no overhead because CID staff purchase everything at discount locations. A full accounting of donations vs expenses will be provided. Those who are British taxpayers may designate their donations and Gift Aid directly to CID’s Ukraine effort, through the website www.childrenindistress.org.uk.

We are so grateful for your generosity and compassion for the Ukrainian children and young people escaping the violence in their country. Please keep them in your prayers, as well as the Russian people and all of the leaders involved. May God’s reign of peace be felt soon, and very soon