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.
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’.”
Sources: episcopiaslatinei.ro, realitateaoltului.ro, realitateaoltului.ro, evenimentdeolt.ro, pro-oltenia.ro, realitateaoltului.ro, realitateaoltului.ro, realitateaoltului.ro, adevarul.ro, adevarul.ro, realitateaoltului.ro, evenimentdeolt.ro, episcopiaslatinei.ro, ziarullumina.ro, ziarullumina.ro.
The editions
4 editions
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.
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.
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.
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.
These are the association’s years, from 2020. The campaign’s whole history, from its first edition, with its photographs and press, is on the site of Father Ion Iagăru, whom the association calls the initiator of its projects.
The campaign’s whole history, on ion.iagaru.ro (opens in a new tab)Photographs
8 photographs
In the press
5 articles and reports
How you can help
Give any amount to the Fiți Buni Association’s accounts at Banca Transilvania.
Bank transfer
Accounts in RON, EUR and GBP, at Banca Transilvania.3.5% of your income tax
You can direct 3.5% of your income tax to the association with Form 230.