Minister of Health Alexandru Rafila stated on Thursday evening, at the opening Gala of the 21st edition of the Christmas Tree Festival, that the organizer of the event, Save the Children Romania, "develops models of good practice and succeeds in bringing health to children".
"I believe that Save the Children is one of the organizations, if not the organization that demonstrates the most responsibility, professionalism and does something unusual in other countries, takes over the responsibilities of public institutions in Romania, develops models of good practice and succeeds in bringing health to children. We believe that today's event can fully contribute to the achievement of this goal for many of the children in Romania that the Save the Children organization has managed to look after for many years, and has succeeded in educating," said Rafila.
Alexandru Rafila expressed his hope that these models of good practice developed by non-governmental organizations will be "taken over, developed and assumed by the authorities".
The executive president of Save the Children Romania, Gabriela Alexandrescu, stated that, thanks to the online edition of last year's gala, almost 30,000 children were supported in the education process.
"We worked with very tormented, very troubled children, with a very difficult childhood. (...) The year 2021 meant education for almost 30,000 children, with the money we raised last year, 470,000 euros. We helped children through summer kindergartens, through programmes such as 'School After School', 'Second Chance', we have invested in teachers to better educate children and to communicate better with children online, we have invested in schools so that they would have the necessary equipment for online teaching. From the money spent, 462,000 euros were used exclusively for children and 7,882 for the administrative part," said Gabriela Alexandrescu.
Welcome messages were addressed to the participants in the Gala by Dr. Mihai Craiu and the director of MNAR, Calin Stegerean, who announced that the museum's partnership with Save the Children will offer, next year, the possibility for some of the children helped by the organization to come to visit MNAR monthly and participate in workshops organized by the museum institution.
The Gala Evening of the 21st edition of the Christmas Tree Festival, organized by Save the Children Romania, in order to bid for the most beautiful exhibits and to raise funds for the restoration of non-discriminatory access to education, takes place on Thursday evening, at the National Museum of Art of Romania (MNAR).
For this edition of the festival, organized in partnership with MNAR, 26 artists and designers created in their workshops unique fir trees, which tell the story of the good that spreads from one to another, through empathy and solidarity.
Among them are: Doina Levintza, Smaranda Almasan, Ana Banica, Adina Buzatu & Maestro Gheorghe Zamfir, Gheorghe Fikl, Nicu Bocancea & Iris Florist, Daniel Codrescu & Mosaic Workshop, Irina Dragomir, Anca Fetcu Lupu & Beelive Design, Omid G Inside Academy, Simona & Gabriel Gherasim - Gallantique Boutique, Teodor Graur, Laura Hîncu, Hamid Nicola Katrib, Carmen Marin, Ana Mohonea & Maria Mohonea - Architectural Christmas, Dhaniel Nora, with the support of Sephora, Adela Pârvu, with the support of PPG Romania, Obie Platon , Felicia Simion, with the support of Mara Mura, Smiley & HaHaHa Production, Ada Tache & Karim Rashid, with the support of DENT ESTET, Iulia Totoianu, with the support of Libris.ro, students of Step by Step Gymnasium School & Dhaniel Nora, UNTOLD. They are joined by Save the Children, with the support of Stefania Mircea.
During the event, the trees will be put up for auction, and the money raised will be invested in programmes run by the non-governmental organization, such as "School after School", "Second Chance", summer kindergartens, teacher training, equipping and renovating schools.
This year, the Gala is presented by Andreea Raicu and Mihai Morar.
Through the 20 editions so far, the Christmas Tree Festival has become the center of solidarity of the year: thus total funds of 6,517,800 euros were collected, and 112,285 children from precarious social backgrounds were reintegrated from a social and educational perspective, thereby correcting the social disparities that would have condemned them not to be able to break the vicious circle of poverty.
More than 2,570,000 children have been involved in Save the Children programmes and campaigns.
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