Project Ruth is expanding its ministries! On April 24, the Naomi Center will open its doors for the first time. This new ministry is targeted towards the women living in the Ferentari community of Bucharest and meeting their needs. The main program of this center will be bi-weekly group and by appointment counseling sessions with childcare provided. In addition to counseling, the Naomi Center will hold twice weekly machine sewing classes. This new ministry is funded for the first year of operation by a grant from Exxon-Mobil.

On Monday April 9th, eighteen volunteers from Bonsack Baptist Church in Virginia will be arriving in Romania. This team is comprised of 14 junior and senior high school students along with four adults. This team will be organizing and hosting clubs for Ruth School students during their Easter break. The team will also hold clubs in the small villages of Bolintin and Glina. Please be in prayer for this team as they travel and for their ministry while serving at Project Ruth.

In mid-March we are anticipating the arrival of a team of nursing students from Gardner Webb University in Boiling Springs, NC, USA.  They will be offering health fairs in Glina and in our Ferentari neighborhood.  The team will be doing health assessments for our Ruth School students and teaching them several health related things like dental hygiene and making good choices.  Not wanting to leave anyone out, the team will also speak to our Mom’s Club on having healthy families.  It will be a full week and we can’t wait!

During the week of March 2-10, the Ruth School will be welcoming a team of collegiate volunteers from Bluefield College in Bluefield, Virginia. These volunteers will be sharing their gifts of art, especially painting, by bringing the first floor hallway to life with large murals. Currently, the design plans for these murals include underlying themes of career goals and life aspirations. In addition, the painting murals the volunteers will be actively involved in many classes and will be leading the weekly chapel service. Check out our Facebook page in March for updates!

The end of the school year is a milestone to celebrate and an opportunity to encourage children to reflect on what they've learned while dreaming up the goals they'd like to reach for next. On June 11th the students from Ruth School along with the kids from the country will celebrate the end of this school year and will start the first day of the 3 month holiday. We would like to thank to the professors for their patience and determination  to teach all these kids. We appreciate the efforts of the sponsors through whom we were able to invest  into these children and we are very grateful to God who made all things possible.

On June 24th Oti and Mishi will attend the annual Board Meeting from US which will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina. The purpose of this gathering  is to present a report of the activities and projects that were run last year. The members of the board will evaluate the results and the impact Project Ruth had among the kids from Roma (Gypsy) communities so far. Please pray that God may bless the committee and help them find new and  relevant strategies to reach the children for Christ through the programs of Project Ruth.

So much does Brittany Garton love Romania and so much she enjoyed  the ministry she has done here last year that she decided  to visit us again. For a couple of weeks she, as a member of the board from US, along with Zachary Covelia Nester and Callom Harkrader will be involved in several activities at Ruth School: organize Vacantion Bible Schools in the neighborhood and  in a citz called Segarcea, attend  the classes, teach some subjects and help with the ,,school reports”.

We are glad to have Amanda Humbert with us again from Miami, Florida. She will arrive on May 3rd and will be at Project Ruth for six weeks. This is the second time Amanda has come to Romania.  Last year, she stayed for about the same time and has been a great help to the school. She got involved with the Music, Arts and English courses. The students love her a lot and they will definitely remember the songs they learned last year with Amanda.

For the first time ever, Project Ruth will be attending the Non-Governmental Organizations Festival!  NGO Fest is the greatest event of this magnitude within the non-governmental segment of Romania.  A promoter of public contribution and voluntary and philanthropic behavior,  NGO Fest is an opportunity to make NGO's more known to Romanian citizens and the larger public. On the 7th, 8th and 9th of May, Project Ruth, along with 200 other NGO's will attend this annual event, sharing in it’s objectives and mission. 

On May 9th -16th, we will receive a visit from Pat Anderson (Mission's Advocate for CBF), Rob Nash (Mission Coordinator for CBF), David Sapp (Pastor 2nd Ponce de Leon Baptist Church from Atlanta), and Aaron Revdarryl (Pastor First Baptist Church Winston Salem). They will visit the Ruth School and spend some time in Moldova, along with Oti and Mishi to see the project’s activity from that area.  This will also be a time to prayerfully evaluate the opportunities they have to sustain the mission in Central Asia.