An amazing social foundation called ” Alaturi de voi Romania” ( together with you, Romania) has helped people transform their disabilities in abilities. The association has helped over 150,000 people with disabilities in 15 years since they started.
At first, they have worked at first with children infected with AIDS and then the organisation started to help other people with disabilities. The organisation has developed several social projects. One project that people are involved with is a tailoring workshop where they create work protection uniforms for companies. The organisation is called UtilDeco. In an interview with Digi TV one lady working there said:
I have been working here for 7 years. I tried to find a job in a different area but they didn’t want me. I am happy that I’m here. Other people want to find a job but they can’t find any. It depends on how lucky you are.
The organisation also has a printing work area in Iasi where people with disabilities and young people from foster homes work. Moreover, they have created another social project called jobdirect.ro which helps people with disabilities find a job.
Buy a travel package and help a charity
Due to a law that passed last year and which has affected a lot of charities, the company has lost 80% of their profit. For this reason, they have thought of creating a unique travel platform in order to continue their social work.
Wisetravel is a travel platform through which a part of the profit goes to other social projects from around the world. This means when you pay for a trip, your money goes towards helping a charity. The platform already has 30 charities, 21 being Romanian ones. The platform uses the same business model as booking.com to ensure they can offer the best prices and to allow donations without affecting the price of the holiday package.
What does this mean?
Let’s say you pay for a trip and you go to Iasi. The platform will suggest a social restaurant where you can eat or the platform will suggest a local charity where you can volunteer. As a tourist, you can choose which charity your money goes to. 50% of the profit from that trip goes to the charity that you choose. This does not mean that you will pay a lot more for your trip, it just means that a part of the money will go towards a good cause.
The tourist will decide what they want to do. If you want to stay at the beach all day, that will be fine as a part of the money you paid will go towards a charity. However, you will also be able to involve yourself in charitable causes such as buying souvenirs from a social enterprise or go on a city tour organised by a social organisation.
The NGO now works together with Pragulic from Praga and Shades Tours from Vienna which organise city tours and they hire homeless people as guides. The platform has different holiday packages from around the world as well as the possibility to rent a car.
Where does my money go?
One of the main concerns when donating to a charity is that you don’t know where your money goes. The NGO has thought about this and they offer complete transparency which brings the tourist face to face with the person who benefits from it. This means every non-profit partner can establish a metric of social impact, such as initiating fundraiser. For every 10 euros that would be donated the NGO will donate a school backpack to a child. Everything will be documented and the person who donated will be able to see photos as proof.
The money raised through these social projects also help fund two Day Centres, one is a Centre for People with Disabilities and the Centre for children and families. The foundation also offers counseling, occupational and vocational therapy.
The foundation has received over 20 international and national awards.
positivenewsromania.com 
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