April 2005     In This Issue   ·    Message from Ben Kubassek, Executive Director   ·    Hardi & Beti in Medgidia ·    Mangalia social project   ·    Tuzla Community Centre   ·   Welcome Carmen   ·    Truss plant in operation   ·    Mangalia church nears completion   ·    Kogalnicanu project gets finishing touches   ·    Tom & Thelma   ·    "Catching the Vision"	God is in the business of answering prayers…   It’s an exciting time for our family…last October our daughter Krystal was married to Eric…what a happy occasion that was! At the wedding, my wife whispered to me, “I can’t wait for our first grandchild!”. Well, guess what? God heard her prayer…this October, my wife, Elizabeth and I will be grandparents! We are all very excited!    photo: Visiting the new girls home in Valu Lui Traian last Nov…Liz & Ben with Alina   Our family has more exciting news…we have just become a foster family! Our first child arrived on March 30th. His name is Spencer…he’s 3½ years old and what a blessing he has been already! We realize that God is using our family to answer his prayers for love, security, and a better life. Elizabeth is in her glory with another child to mother…to play with…to pray with…to feed…to love. God has been using us to answer the prayers of many children in Romania through Hands For Humanity over the past 10 years…but it’s also great to be able to make a difference right here in our own community!   Hands For Humanity receives requests weekly from all over the world. These are requests from people who have a heart for their community and want to make a difference but need a helping hand. Every one of these emails includes a request for prayer…but also includes a request for finances. These requests all seem to say the same thing, “we are praying for God to provide…will you let him answer our prayers through you?”  My reply is always the same…we’ll trust God together for His provision.   As we trust God together, ministry becomes a team effort. Some give…some go…some pray. Together we can make a tremendous difference! Together we can change the world!   Ben Kubassek Executive Director
Contact Us: Hands For Humanity  RR #3, Bright, ON  N0J 1B0 Canada Tel: 519-632-9900 Fax: 519-632-8800 Charity Number:  88428 2716 RR0001     email: ben@kubassek.com	Hardi & Beti in Medgidia Hardi and Beti Kubassek are working with poor children in Medgidia. The needs are tremendous and the conditions are horrible…but God has found two people who said “Yes” to His call to bring love and light to these kids…to bring an answer to the prayers of these poor kids for a better life.   photo: The soup kitchen which operated from the Medgidia community centre for the winter     Because of their willingness to serve and make a difference…lives are being changed for the better! Hardi and Beti will be travelling to Canada this summer from May 20 until August 18 and will be sharing about their work in Romania. If you’d like to speak to your church or organization, please contact Ben Kubassek info@handsforhumanity.org Thanks to Hardi & Beti for letting God answer the prayers of His children in Medgidia through them!
“special thanks to Sussex Street Baptist Church from Wales for raising $22,000. and sending 45 youth to help with the construction of the Tuzla Community Centre”	Mangalia Social Housing Project Ben with Beti at the"White House" with the kids   Community development is a primary focus of Hands For Humanity. HFH is partnering with the city of Mangalia in an exciting project to integrate Gypsies into  Romanian society. The first phase of the project includes 18 small homes. The second phase planned for next spring will include a kindergarten/ alphabetization school building. The building will also serve as a church/community for the Romi living in that community. Last month Jeremy Wipf and Gary Decker from Starland Colony spent 3 weeks in Romania assembling wall sections for this project. Thanks guys for all your help! Please pray for provision for this project. The framing materials for this project have been donated and have been shipped to Romania. The trusses are built and the wall sections are framed and sitting in the warehouse in Magalia. However, we still need $90,000CAD in order to complete the 18 homes. Excavating               $7,000. Concrete                 $26,000 Exterior Sheeting       $18,000 Stucco                    $10,000 Ext. Windows/Doors   $24,000 Int. Doors/Trim          $5,000 Please help us answer the prayers of 18 poor Gypsy families in Mangalia for decent housing.
“…we’re almost there! Please help us finish this home for street kids.”	Tuzla Community Centre The community centre at Tuzla under construction   The Second Baptist Church from Constanta has been planting a church in the village of Tuzla, just south of Constanta, over the past five years. HFH has acquired a parcel of land in Tuzla and is developing a community centre building which will serve as a daycare centre, alphabetization school, and a place for the church to meet. Last month a team of 45 youth from Sussex Street Baptist in Wales came to Romania to construct the building. Over the past year, these young people also raised over $22,000 Cdn. towards the cost of construction materials for the building. The building is now waiting for windows and doors and interior finishing. Funds still needed: Windows and doors   $5,000 Plumbing                 $1,250 Electrical                $1,500 Drywall                   $3,000 Interior Doors/Trim    $2,000 Flooring                   $2,500    Pleas help us complete this project.
	Hands for Humanity welcomes Carmen Bughiu…   Hands for Humanity welcomes on board Carmen Bughiu. Carmen is employed as administrative assistant and bookkeeper. Carmen and her husband George moved to Canada from Romania and presently live in Kitchener, Ontario. Carmen has proven to be a quick learner and a real asset to our organization.
	Truss plant in operation…   We wish to thank Acadia Colony and Community Truss Ltd. for their continued support and their donation of some used truss assembly equipment.   The equipment needed refurbishing…thanks to Oak Bluff Colony for repairing the assembly table and to Windy Bay Colony for  repairing the roller tables. We can now ship truss components and assemble our trusses in Romania.   Paul, Theodore & Lowell from Acadia Colony were in Romania in November to setup the truss equipment. Since then, we have assembled close to 300 roof trusses for various projects.
“because of your generosity, this church building in Mangalia is nearing completion”	Mangalia church nears completion   Thanks to our faithful donors this project is nearing completion after 6 years of construction. Funds are still needed for this project. Please pray for Pastor Dorel and his team in Mangalia.
	Kogalnicanu project gets finishing touches Project Romania Rescue rescues kids from the streets of Constanta. Hands for Humanity is honoured to be able to help Project Romania Rescue carry out their mission. Last November some of our Hutterite friends came to Romania to continue work on the Street Kids Project in Kogalnicanu. Thanks to Nathan Wollman from Starland Colony, Steven & Johnny from Springhill Colony, Jonathan from Riverbend Colony, and Andy and Jason from Oak Bluff Colony for their labour of love.   photo : Andy from Oak Bluff and Johnny from Springhill unloading the cement truck.
	Tom & Thelma Hofer, Valleyview Colony We will try and share a bit about our trip to Romania last month. I want to thank Ben first of all for giving us the opportunity to go. I was really blessed in being able to go and see a different part of the world, where we were really well looked after by Ben. In showing us around to the different places and people to the building projects and sites where houses and churches have been built by Hands for Humanity. The churches were very nicely built but not too extravagant. They are built mostly from concrete.   We saw some houses that were not very big but many times better than what the people had before, and the people seemed so thankful when you gave them something.   Photo: L to R Clara & Ernie Maendel (Windy Bay Colony) Thelma & Tom Hofer ( Valleyview Colony)   For example: when we went out to visit a family that lived in a house built by Hands for Humanity, there were seven small children at home when we came and knocked on the door. Their mother wasn't home because she was in the hospital and they didn't seem to have any food. There is so much poverty there, you really don't know what to say or do.   photo: Thelma and Clara making friends with the kids Here at home we have so much…and are we really happy and satisfied? I don't think so…I think we need to see places like this to appreciate what we have and to find more happiness for ourselves, to open our hearts much more to people in need and I'm sure the Lord would bless us even more, but let us not give for this reason so we can have more, but give out of love for our fellow man. We should give so we can be a light to a world that needs to see the light of Jesus, and pray that whatever we do will bring glory to our Heavenly Father. I was really blessed by this trip and would encourage anybody to go.   Thanks again Ben. Tom and Thelma
	"Catching the Vision" In March of 2005, we Ernie & Clara (Windy Bay Colony) and Tom and Thelma Hofer (Valley View Colony) were given the opportunity to visit Romania. It has been an enjoyable and yet heart wrenching experience, one initially described by Ben as “catching the vision”. His enthusiasm towards each Romanian project was contagious, but somehow, unreal before we could see for ourselves. Photo: Handing out candies to the kids in Medgidia   To say we were saddened seems inadequate – seeing the children, so incredibly sweet, yet so dirty, continually hungry and undernourished, cold, and oftentimes abandoned and not to mention adults so familiar with having their work ethic exploited and taken advantage of that they see no purpose, much less joy, in work. We pray that the Lord will lead us on to deeper invest ourselves to truly love God and to love people - as He has loved us – reaching out, and giving ourselves and be Hands for Humanity.
Contact Us: Hands For Humanity  RR #3, Bright, ON  N0J 1B0 Canada Tel:519-632-9900 Fax:519-632-8800 Charity Number: 88428 2716 RR0001   email: ben@kubassek.com	Thanks for being a blessing! Your generosity has made it possible to bless many people and complete many projects to date in Romania. Because you gave, people are being trained for the Great Commission…because you gave, children’s prayers are being answered…because you gave, we can carry out the Great Commission! Thank you for your faithful giving!   Thanks for being the answer to the prayers of God’s children in Romania!   Blessings to all of you, Ben Kubassek, Executive Director