Modolva Partnership

The Republic of Moldova is a small East European country lying between Romania and Ukraine. This territory has been contested over the years between controlling interest of Russia and Romania. With the fall of the “iron curtain” in the early 1990’s, Moldova, then a part of Romania, finally gained her independence. The fledgling republic has struggled with viability. Decades of centralized communist rule left satellite economies struggling when the system dissolved. A particular area of challenge for Romania, and thus Moldova as well, were the hundreds of orphans who needed care. Under the communist regime, Romania had been designated as the catch basin for all the children in the USSR whose families could not provide adequately for them. They were placed in state-operated orphanages across Romania/Moldova. When the supply line from Moscow was severed, these institutions were left to their own resources. In the case of newly-constituted Moldova, these resources were sorely lacking. The orphanages fast became centers of desperate destitution.

Enter Florin Pindic-Blaj, a native of Romania, whose heart was burdened by the plight of the “least of these” suffering children. Like many before him, he looked to the USA as a source of help. He relocated his family to the States, eventually joining a community of Romanians/Moldovians in Hickory, NC. He began a pipeline of support to Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, where he had founded the first privately-operated orphanage in the region. So began “Little Samaritan Mission” (LSM) which has done so much on a shoe-string budget over the years. Support for the orphanage overflowed to assist the impoverished state-run counterparts. Soup kitchens, a novel concept in this area, were begun to feed the poor and elderly. Florin wanted to minister to the spiritual as well as the physical hunger in his native land and soon his vision of a chain of radio stations was birthed to broadcast the gospel 24/7 across the land where a Christian witness had for so long been silenced.

Boonville Baptist Church has been supportive of Little Samaritan Mission. Pastor Ken Boaz, Jack and Linda Crissman, Sue Payne and Harvey Isom are church members who have been on mission teams to Vascauti, one of the many town of Moldova housing an orphanage. Annual “Face of a Child” projects have been well sponsored, as individual orphan have been “adopted” and sent vital needs of clothing, school supplies, etc. Various drives have furnished funds for coal, potatoes, shoes and the like. One delightful push was for milk cows! For $300 each, we were able to supply orphanages with one or more cows. This gave the children a much-needed source of milk, but also nurtured responsibility in caring for the animals. The donor even got the privilege of naming “their” cow! My favorite was “Dotty”, named for the pastor’s wife of Deep Creek Baptist Church??!! I’m sure she is the prettiest bovine in all Moldova……..

Immediate Critical Need

There has been a severe drought in Moldova this past summer causing massive crop failure. We are collecting monies during the month of October to ship sorely needed staples in ocean-going containers. These bags of rice, flour, etc. will be distributed by Little Samaritan Mission in order to help these impoverished folk weather the harsh winter ahead. If you would like to help, you are invited to send a check made out to “Boonville Baptist Church", designated for “Moldova Drought Relief”. The church address is PO Box 429, Boonville, NC 27011. These funds will be forwarded to the Little Samaritan Mission

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