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Fr. Ion Doru Iagăru

Every year · since 2014

Zâmbește! Familia (noastră) te iubește!

“Smile! (Our) family loves you!”: Christmas gifts for children in hospital, for children from families in need and for the children of the Romanians around Vidin. The campaign sets out every year from the hospital church in Caracal and reached its tenth edition in 2023.

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Zâmbește! Familia (noastră) te iubește! — decembrie 2023

The story of the campaign

Father Ion Iagăru started the campaign at the church of Caracal Municipal Hospital; by 2015 it was already in its second edition. Every year before Christmas, anyone can take an empty box from the church, fill it with gifts and bring it back by the announced deadline, most often 20 December. The boxes are collected and handed out through the hospital church.

Into the box go sweets that do not spoil, school supplies, toys that suit the child’s age, hygiene products, clothes, a Christmas card with a few lines for the child who receives it, small icons, small crosses and prayer books.

The campaign’s call, as Father Ion wrote it in 2019: “Be with the children in hospital over the winter holidays, the Romanian children of the Bulgarian region of Vidin, and those from families in need!” Since 2020 the boxes have been packed by the members of the Fiți Buni Association.

The local press called him “Santa in a cassock”. As he said in 2023: “Usually we set out to give 300 – 400 gift parcels, but in the end we manage to give 700 – 800.”

Of those who give, Father Ion asks: “Do not put in the bags things you would not like to receive yourselves. Do not clear out your house and then give away ‘what is for the bin’.”

The editions

9 editions

  1. 2025“Fii alături de copiii internați în spitale, în perioada Sărbătorilor de Iarnă!” (Be with the children in hospital over the winter holidays!)

    Father Ion and the Fiți Buni Association prepared gifts for the children in the paediatric wards of six hospitals in three counties: Caracal, Balș and Corabia (Olt), Roșiorii de Vede (Teleorman), Băilești and Calafat (Dolj). The personalised bags were picked up at the wooden church in the hospital courtyard, and the gifts were also to reach hundreds of children from poor families and from the villages of the Vlachs of the Bulgarian Timok.

  2. 2023The 10th edition

    At the end of November, Father Ion and the Fiți Buni Association began the collection, and the gifts were to be handed out around Christmas. On the second day of Christmas the trip to the Romanians of Bulgaria was planned: to the Romanian Cultural Centre in Vidin, to a kindergarten in the Romanian quarter and to several villages around Vidin.

  3. 2021The 8th edition

    From 28 November to 20 December. The gifts were packed into boxes by the association’s members, following the health rules; donations could also be made to the Fiți Buni Association’s account.

  4. 2020The 7th edition

    It began at the end of November. Because of the pandemic, to protect the children and their families, the boxes were assembled and filled with gifts by the members of the Fiți Buni Association. The collection deadline: 20 December 2020.

  5. 2019The 6th edition

    The boxes were picked up at the hospital church and brought back by 20 December. On 23 December the gifts reached the children in Caracal Municipal Hospital.

  6. 2018The 5th edition

    It began on 26 November, aiming at 500 children, and ended on 20 December. About 800 parcels were being prepared, 200 of them for children in Bulgaria: 150 for the children of the Romanians around Vidin and 50, through the Metropolis of Vidin, for ethnic Bulgarian children.

    ResultMore than 700 parcels reached the children in the hospitals of Caracal, Calafat, Roșiorii de Vede, Drăgășani, Băilești and Vidin.

  7. 2017The 4th edition

    It began on 30 November, aiming at 500 children; the collection deadline: 20 December. On 26 December Father Ion went to Vidin, to 60 children of Vlach-Romanian origin, to the children of a Bulgarian village and to those in the paediatric ward of Vidin County Hospital.

    ResultMore than 600 gift boxes and bags, which reached 600 children.

  8. 2016The 3rd edition

    From 24 November to 25 December. The announced list named the paediatric wards of Craiova, Calafat, Slatina, Caracal, Corabia, Balș, Alexandria, Roșiorii de Vede, Turnu Măgurele and Drăgășani. The gifts also went to children from disadvantaged families in Olt, Dolj, Vâlcea and Teleorman and, in Bulgaria, to the Romanian Cultural Centre in Vidin, the children of the Timok Valley, the paediatric ward of Vidin Municipal Hospital and the Metropolis of Vidin.

    Result1,500 gift boxes and more than 500 gift bags.

  9. 2015The 2nd edition

    From 21 November to 24 December. The gifts reached disadvantaged families and people, the paediatric and paediatric oncology wards of Craiova County Emergency Hospital, the paediatric wards in Slatina, Caracal, Corabia, Balș and Calafat, social and care centres in Olt, and the children of the Romanian community in Vidin.

    ResultAbout 1,200 personalised boxes and more than 700 bags and boxes of food, toys and clothes; the campaign’s approximate value: 40,000 lei.

Photographs

10 photographs

In the press

20 articles and reports

Show the other 12 articles

How you can help

Join the Fiți Buni Association and give any amount to its accounts at Banca Transilvania.

  1. Bank transfer

    Accounts in RON, EUR and GBP, at Banca Transilvania.

  2. 3.5% of your income tax

    You can direct 3.5% of your income tax to the association with Form 230.

  3. Questions

    Call 0722 956 956Send a WhatsApp message
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