Dear Friends 

Welcome to our first update of 2012. I trust you had a great Christmas, celebrating our Saviour’s Birth. Trust you were with family and friends which makes Christmas all the more special. As Christmas passes, so we enter a new year. I truly pray you will know God’s Peace and Rich Blessings in 2012.

The New Year can often bring new plans, new commitments, even what some call ‘New Year Resolutions’. For me, the New Year brings a perfect opportunity to reflect on the past year ... and Give Thanks! Also, it is a good time to look forward and once again, place our lives and dedication to work through God’s Hands for the year ahead. That we might truly be ‘His Hands and Feet’ in all we do.

Within the Smiles Foundation – we most certainly reflect on 2011 and Give Thanks! Even against a back-drop of economic hardship, uncertainty of continued support for Charity and Mission organisations – we are so thankful to God for protecting us and providing for us as we continue to faithfully move forward to be an active part in fulfilling His Plan and Purpose for each of us and the Work of Smiles.

It wasn’t always easy and at times it would have been tempting to lose faith, but we learnt ‘our timing is not God’s timing’ and now we can see so much more clearly than at the time of difficulty and concern. But, through-out the year, there are many wonderful high points to Give God Thanks and Praise for His faithfulness and provision.

One very important aspect of Smiles work in Romania for which I am very thankful is the Team.
In 2011 – many new members joined the Team and are contributing to crucially important aspects of the work.
To name but a few (which always has its dangers!) ....

Simona Tosity- Project Manager to Sminro, oversees the Enterprise Initiative of Farm, Glasshouse & Retail
Samuiel Silaghi– Project Manager to Construction, including the Joint Facility of Love
Raul Gherle– Project Manager to Homeless, including the Container Village
Sorin Balogh– Manager for Romanian Marketing, Promotion and Fund-Raising
Ritza Duciuc– Social Worker for Homeless & Salard Projects plus Mission Trip Representative

These people have all enhanced the Team based in Cihei making it stronger than ever. We also have in Arpasel, Victor responsible for the Farm and Ioan, supervising the Glasshouse plus many more across the projects.
More than 10 new staff joined us in 2011, taking the total Romanian Staff count to 78. A huge testimony to God’s goodness in providing our needs month by month.
 

We are looking forward to March when 10 of us will be visiting the United Kingdom and Eire, touring all Regions of the UK, sharing ‘Stories from the Heart’ of the work in Romania from everyone on the Tour. A 2 hour presentation plus refreshments with the team will be a memorable occasion as we celebrate 15 Years of Smiles sharing God’s Love in Romania. Make a note in your new diary NOW!

The tour will be:
An Evening of Worship, Multi-media and moving Testimony
Sharing the work of Making Smiles in Romania
 
We plan to make each night very special. There will be a Prize Draw for a free Mission Trip to Romania and a Special Auction each night of an Exclusive 20 page Book, celebrating the Story of Smiles in Pictures. Only 12 copies of this Book exist in the World – allowing 1 to be auctioned each night of the 10 day Tour and 1 to be kept at the head offices in Leeds, England and Cihei, Romania. How much would you bid for such an exclusive Souvenir?

Don’t Miss It! – Check the Schedule here and be sure to come ... with family and friends. 

Many of you know the work of Smiles and our Team by working along-side them on Mission Trips.
400 people joined us in 2011, and we pray you’ll come again this year.

We now have 3 levels of Visits available. As before, the regular Mission trips of which 10 are planned April through December each year.  

The Church Challenge which is for Church groups of 10 or more, to be scheduled as convenient to your group.

But – NEW for 2012 – Project Support Trips. Available year round with 6 projects to choose from. Minimum of 7 days, no limit as to for how long – you simply commit to focus and support one Project for your entire stay.

All options are priced to fit everyone’s budget and don’t forget the Monthly Budget Plan option is there to help you.

Also, for those in Professional Education – don’t forget the Educational Challenge now booking for APRIL 1^st – 5^th 2012. A unique opportunity to share your experience with Tileagd Community School staff and students along with other professionals from the United Kingdom. The Challenge is led by our Educational Advisor and Trustee – Stephen Woodward. Contact the office now for an Application form or email: education@thesmilesfoundation.org   
 

You may have noticed our Home Page has had some additional features. Notably – the ‘quick reference’ to
WHO WE ARE / WHAT WE DO / HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please refer your friends to the site so that more will learn of the work we do and begin to support. Maybe, even if you know very well ‘Who We Are’ and ‘What We Do’ – you should check ‘How You Can Help’ because we are also launching new for 2012 the A-E for making Smiles.

Take a look and consider seriously how you can help and get more involved.
The A- E is simple and I’m sure you would fit into one of the categories!

A – Ambassador– to help promote the work of Smiles.
B – Business– get your company, office, staff and colleagues involved.
C – Church– to engage your church with a Mission Organisation that’s working!
D – Development– spreading the net wider for Smiles in your region.
E – Education– getting your School, Class, Year group involved that will bring alive ‘Global Citizenship’.

Something for YOU? I believe so.
Get in touch and we’ll see what is really possible.

We sadly say Thank You and Good-bye to our Development Associate for Region 3, Sue Allen in the Midlands who has to step down due to family and business commitments. We are thankful to Sue for her work in recent years and now we start the search for a new DA for the region. 

Are you up for a major challenge? Do you want to make a Difference? Make more Smiles? If so, please write to me to start discussing HOW? – kevin@thesmilesfoundation.org

Meanwhile, we are delighted Sue is becoming our Church contact for St Peter’s Belper in Derbyshire. 

2011 was a challenging year, due in part to the many new projects we undertook during the year.

The Farm, purchased in June 2010, really got going in 2011 and starting such a long term strategy had many demands.   

The Glasshouse, built in April/May 2011 and first crops planted in July added further pressures to establish the business on a strong base for the future benefit of Smiles.

The Retail Shops, increased from one in Salonta, opened November 2010 to four by November 2011 and in December, we purchased a City Centre facility that we plan to open March 1^st 2012 after substantial renovations. All in all – a sharp learning curve for us all and a busy time of adjustment, especially for some, like Retail Project Manager, Octavia Cimpoca who switched from Smiles Sponsorship Coordinator to Retail Management.

The investment in our Enterprise Initiatives exceeded £500,000 ($750,000) and we thank God that all this could be done.

On the Projects front, tremendous investment and effort was put into the preparations and opening in October of the Container Village for the Homeless in the city. Equally, the changes to our Cihei Family Centre, which also opened in October as an Elderly Care Home.  

All these projects further increased our staff and our monthly budget requirement. As if this wasn’t enough, we completed the purchase in September on the Joint Facility of Love complex in Salonta. A £300,000 ($450,000) purchase. Since then, we have started work on converting an old feather factory into a Restaurant/Christian Coffee Shop and the first phase of major building work on the future Nursing Home. £135,000 ($200,000) is the initial investment and we pray for support in 2012 to enable the first phase of construction to begin for the Centre for Children with Disabilities, anticipated budget of £160,000 ($240,000).

The Smiles Foundation is an organisation that gets things done! Over the years, we have defied the laws of possibility, because we believe in miracles. God has continuously provided in miraculous ways and we pray we will see even greater miracles in 2012.The wonderful part of God’s Miracle, is when He uses us to be a part. The more we can give and be involved with fund-raising and creating awareness – the more we will see the miracles unfold. I pray we will all commit to be more involved, more active, more supportive this year than ever before.

If we are to see the Enterprise Initiatives perform to their full potential, if we are to see the JFL grow in construction and start providing the Care it is designed for, if we are to see our Projects care and provide for more Children in Education, Families in need of help, the Abused, the Elderly, the Disabled, the Marginalised – we all need to do more, be more involved and more supportive ourselves, but also our Church, our Business, our School – they need to be more involved.

In 2012 – the Smiles Foundation needs to increase its income by 30% if we are to achieve all our Hopes and & Dreams for the Miracle in Romania. Please get on-board and enjoy the journey to ‘Change the World’ for those in need.

Through-out the year, we will continue to provide monthly updates and stories to encourage you in the work you are supporting. We will continue to feature each month a Romanian Staff Profile to help introduce you to our Team. This month we feature our longest serving teacher at Tileagd Community School – Claudia Sturz.

Our Director of Operations – Maria Cimpoca – will continue to share insights from her desk on news from Romania. I know this is a favourite regular read for many of you – so read it now!  

From the UK, each month one of our Development Associates will share news and updates from their region, so don’t miss this month from Northern Ireland’s Barbara Morrison.

Also special reports will continue to be featured from time to time.


For January, we have a report from Valerie Holcombe who made her first Smiles Mission trip in December and shares her experience, thoughts and photos with us in the ‘Report from America’.
 

In closing, I want to report on the fantastic response we had to the Matching Gift Challenge in December. I was thrilled with how the challenge was looking half way through the month and continued to look good before Christmas. However, I was shocked (me of little faith) at the response in the final week of December, when in 3 short days of receiving mail, more than £12,000 ($18,000) came in. This took the total for the month, over and above our regular support, to £32,503 ($48,754) – smashing the Matching Gift Challenge target. When adding the Matching Gift of £17,000 ($25,000) the total was £49,503 ($73,754) for the final month of the year! (plus regular giving).

Thank you to all who contributed, some wonderful means of fund-raising which I’ll hopefully report on a little more next month. Thanks also to our dear American friends who offered the Challenge and the matching gift of $25,000. God bless you all.

So – what a start to 2012. I pray we can continue in the same way. Anyone else who would like to Challenge the Smiles Supporters to a Matching Gift – please contact me!

A sincere heart-felt thank you for your love and support to Smiles.
I truly pray you have a Glorious, Spirit-Filled year of serving the Lord.


Kevin Hoy
Chief Executive to  
The Smiles Foundation