Christian Care Trust

Public benefits

Purpose 1: The Advancement of Religion The benefit that flows from this purpose is supporting the building of new churches and improvements to existing buildings in Romania; these churches are open to all. They have enabled further opportunities such as children’s and young people’s meetings, run by the local leaders and members themselves in

various local areas of Teleorman. A further benefit is support for the building of a dedicated Bible residential centre in Southern Romania. A further benefit is the building of a community centre in a village in North-western Romania. These buildings are not owned by Christian Care Trust but by the local churches. The benefits are evidenced by the change in behaviour. For example, the local Mayor and Police Chief have publicly commended the work in Odoreu and stated that crime had been reduced by fifty percent in that part of the village. Furthermore two notorious extorniate money-lenders and one persistent burglar, as a result of attending the church, have now turned their backs on their previous lives and are contributing in significant ways to the social development of the local community. (We are facilitating the establishment of a new church, where there had been none before in an area that is populated by Gypsies, as they are still called in Romania, who are significantly disadvantaged and discriminated against by local Romanians). The benefits are also evidenced by the ever increasing numbers of children and young people (and adults) who have had a holiday provided for them at the residential centre (many of whom have never been on a holiday before), where they have all their meals provided for them, games and leisure time as well as age appropriate lessons, staffed by qualified local people. Local volunteers provide musical training in the form of singing and musical instruments, for both children and adults, which we believe will lead to a greater sense of cultural awareness. No harm has been experienced or is anticipated. The beneficiaries are the general public in different areas of Romania who freely choose to make use of the church services and facilities. We do partially support pastors and assistants but the incidental benefit is outweighed by the fact that the congregations are in such poor areas that they are unable to support their leaders and so without this support they would not be able to continue in ministry. Purpose 2: The Prevention or Relief of Poverty The benefit that flows from this purpose is helping people to gain skills and education to improve their employment prospects and to improve their own living conditions. The benefits are evidenced by the Community centre in Odoreu where a number of different classes are held. Children and adults have learned to read and write and adults have been trained by volunteers to make items of craft that they have been able to sell for income. During the construction of the churches and other buildings over the years, work has been provided to people from the local communities. Volunteers connected with our organisation have taught varied building skills that have helped the locals to gain knowledge of building skills such as bricklaying and plastering etc., which they have also used to improve the quality of their own dwellings. This has been particularly important in Odoreu where living conditions are generally run down and squalid. Not only have these locals learned building skills but they have also been taught to breed pigs and other animals, in order to feed their own families and to sell any surplus. Those who are from a Gypsy background are usually unregistered and many are stateless and had no rights in the country or community. Through our training programmes a number of local people have been helped to register with the local authorities, both as citizens and therefore as... [for the remainder of this statement, please contact the Charity Commission for NI]

What your organisation does

Christian Care Trust exists to help Christians and Churches in Romania, both in providing resources to build churches and community centres and supporting them in their on-going work reaching out and providing aid for those who are poor and needy.