thank you for running for their lives.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who ran for their lives Saturday morning at Landon! We had amazing weather and loved seeing so many of you (almost 200 supporters!) come out to help this work we are all doing together, by God's grace, to rescue and care for "the least of these" in Romania.

Check out our recap video below and click HERE if you'd like to give to our campaign.

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Our spring event this year is the FUN RUN on Saturday, April 28th from 8:15-10:15am at the Landon School in Bethesda. This year we have an official timed cross country 5K and a half mile fun run/walk suitable for families with young kids. The run/walk starts promptly at 9:00 and brunch follows the race.

SCROLL DOWN OR CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Our special guest this spring is Claudiu who was rescued at age seven by RCE after living much of his young life on the streets. He is accompanied by Cipri and Lorena, two of his excellent teachers at Sunshine School. By God's grace, Claudiu is surrounded by the loving and supportive community at Darius House.

If you are interested in creating a personal fundraising page and asking friends and family to sponsor you to participate in the 5k or Fun Run, please click HERE.

If you would like to donate please click HERE and scroll to the bottom.

RCE is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and all donations are tax-deductible.
All donations go directly to helping children like Claudiu, so each gift truly makes a difference.

With your help, we can continue to end cycles of abuse and poverty by giving kids like Claudiu a hope and a future.

RCE is grateful to the following businesses, schools and churches for sponsoring the 2018 Fun Run:

Elm Street Development

Vendt Brothers Insurance

Ellison Corporation

U-Home Consulting

Matt Stone, Nationwide

JuicePlus

Nickelsporn & Lundin, P.C.

Race Packet

Washington Christian Academy

Ambleside School

McLean Presbyterian Church

Fourth Presbyterian Church

Victor Llewellyn Group

Adfero

Bust A Move Movers

Chick-Fil-A Westfield Montgomery Mall

Mary Bajwa, Long and Foster

Reston Wealth Management

Washington Institute for Dentistry & Laser Surgery

Linking Arms to Make Mercy Happen

Erin Jones is a freelance writer and humanities teacher, who visited Romania in 2014 with a group from her church, Fourth Presbyterian in Bethesda, MD.

This past October when RCE celebrated 25 years together, Nicoleta Balog shared her family’s experience of adopting Darius and Claudiu. She spoke in Romanian, and Carmen Bosca joined her at the podium, translating for her as she shared. The moment these two women took center stage to share a story together evoked an image that has been a common and beautiful thread throughout the story of redemption: God loves to work wonders through women supporting one another.

Just think back to the in the book of Ruth: in the midst of horrific heartbreak and tragedy, God used the bond between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to bring redemption, not only to their lives and circumstances, but to carry on the lineage of Christ.

Think of the bond between Mary the mother of Jesus and her older cousin Elizabeth, who hosted and supported Mary in the midst of the confusion and scandal surrounding her pregnancy. Their friendship would later be carried on through the bond between their sons, one the incarnate son of God and one the messenger and evangelist John the Baptist who heralded arrival of the long-awaited Messiah.

In his comments in October, RCE Board Chair Jim Perry, spoke about the beginnings of RCE, mentioning in particular Founder Mary Ann Bell’s heart to help the women of Romania. That heart and vision led to the formation of many gospel partnerships over the years--with women like Doina Martin, who started RCE's work of mercy by holding babies in state orphanages. She now provides leadership in the Poverty Prevention Program--helping over 200 impoverished families each year become self-sustaining. 

The support that the daughters of God show for one another is clearly close to the heart of the Father. It was present at the organization’s inception, and demonstrated 25 years later in a very simple moment of translating a story from Romanian into English.

A New Home

How many of us have experienced the joys and challenges of moving to a new place? What emotions come up? What does it take to transform a house into a home?

Sorin’s House has been built with great purpose and intention just like every RCE project. We are motivated to make it happen for the orphans and disabled children that grow under our care by the idea of future young adults living there. With that vision in mind, we work to provide young adults like Sorin, Boti, Adina and Leti with a house perfectly suited to them where they can live happily together.

As we work, RCE’s Counseling Department has prepared a plan to help these future Sorin’s House residents feel less stressed throughout this process. Each week, all four of them travel to see the site and to feel more connected to their future house. During one recent visit, Boti, Sorin, Adina and Leti helped prepare the yard.

Each time they visited, they had good interactions with the workers, saw the walls becoming bedrooms, bathrooms, and a kitchen, and witnessed  their future bedrooms being transformed from mere bricks to walls that will one day hold pictures and decorations.

Sorin often mentions the process of covering the house with a roof, as well as the day the windows were fixed into the walls, leading to a noticeable difference in temperature.

What a blessing to have a home to spend all the years that God has prepared for them!

Your Christmas Gifts at Work!

The Bisa family had never had a home of their own. Mr. and Mrs. Bisa, and their four beautiful children, lived in one crowded room and shared a kitchen, and an outdoor bathroom, with other extended family members. It was difficult and they dreamed of building their own house one day but several economic setbacks made that impossible. Including a disease that killed more than half of their herd of goats.

Ovidiu and Doina Martin, and RCE’s poverty prevention team, came to the rescue. RCE provided a no-interest loan to help the family build up their herd again and, with the help of volunteers from Fourth Presbyterian Church, MD., and McLean Presbyterian Church, VA, the family started to build a sturdy, safe little house where they now live in dignity. “A dream come true,” according to Mrs. Bisa.

This winter your Christmas gifts will help keep them warm.

RCE has helped 2027 impoverished families since we began our poverty prevention program in 1995! Families like the Bisa family who are now able to take care of most of their own needs and give their children a brighter future. Thank you for helping us make that possible.

We covet your prayers and support as we begin this new year as RCE is facing an unusual financial challenge. The dollar is down against the Romanian Lei by 21% since this time last year. The weaker dollar, plus an onerous new employment tax burden in Romania, has presented RCE with a major funding challenge for 2018. Your financial gifts will be more important than ever as we continue to serve impoverished families and rescue abandoned children with disabilities.

Thank you and God bless!

O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing

Erin Jones is a freelance writer and humanities teacher. She visited Romania in the spring of 2014 with a group of young adults from her church, Fourth Presbyterian in Bethesda, MD.

After an incredibly rich week, our team had begun to near the end of our visit to RCE with hearts full. That evening, our little team of 14 from Fourth Presbyterian Church, along with some RCE staff, descended on the Residential Campus in Pecica to spend the evening with students and staff, over delicious food, as always. We lingered, chatting after the meal when suddenly a small entourage of visitors burst in, one of whom carried an accordion. Before long the instrument had filled the room with upbeat, accented bellows. The tune soon took the form of a hymn, which all the Romanians in the room immediately recognized and began to sing. When this song ended, another followed close behind. A hymnal appeared, but students and staff alike seemed to know the words.

In an instant, this casual dinner had been transformed into a service of worship. Our hearts were filled with praise, even those of us who couldn’t understand the words. On the faces of the students — some wheelchair bound, others survivors of trauma — shone with the peace that passes understanding and joy inexplicable. We did not need to know the words to clearly see the truth expressed in those moments: that God is greater than circumstance and difficulty, that His grace is sufficient, and that his merciful love is glorious. So far from home, our little group from Maryland had glimpsed the true home awaiting us: a home where worship of our great God will transcend language barriers, racial divides, ethnicity, and any other temporal barriers.

Revelations 7:9-12
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”  And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”