While in High School, a young Romanian woman visited a local Romanian orphanage. She never forgot what she saw. She remembered the dirty bedrooms with no curtains on the windows, and sad children waiting for the dinner bell to ring… no smile on their faces, no joy in their lives. While there, she felt a tiny hand grasping her leg and when she looked down she saw a little boy with his big green eyes wide open saying “Will you be my mommy, please! I promise I’ll be a very good child.” Any further words need not be said.

Simona could have turned away and closed her eyes and heart. But instead she chose to open them wide and DO something. She started a foundation in an effort to help children like those she’d seen in the orphanage. And in 2002, House of Angels was born!

Unfortunately, in January 2005, Romania changed its child protection laws upon the insistence of the European Union. International adoption was halted and as of September of 2006 (when our last angel went to foster care) we were no longer allowed to care for the young abandoned children. Simona was devastated and deeply saddened. But she was still committed to helping the children of Romania in whatever capacity was needed… and there was plenty of need. So in September of 2006 we had our grand re-opening… this time as an after-school facility and physical therapy center for some of the neediest school aged children in our area. Now we provide children with hot meals, physical therapy, help with school work, arts and crafts and much more, in a healthy, warm, positive and loving environment.

But for the dream of this beautiful and strong young woman and her unwavering devotion to the abandoned children of Romania, the children who once lived at the House of Angels would have survived their first three years of life in bare hospital cribs with little else. She has saved numerous children from enduring extreme deprivation and the many and varied post-institutional problems that occur as a result of such neglect. She has given them instead… love, joy and a chance at life. And now, she continues to pour out her heart and offer this chance to other children in need in her community.