A commune in Dolj feeds 120 poor children to keep them in school. The cook works on a voluntary basis
In Galicea Mare, a commune in Dolj with over 4,000 inhabitants, a social canteen was set up where food is prepared, daily, for 120 children. The cook is currently volunteering.
For now, 120 children from Galicea Mare benefit from a hot meal PHOTO: Assoc. Whisper of the Flowers
The canteen, built and equipped according to all the rigors and having all the necessary approvals, has been operating since the end of May 2026. The children, approximately 120 students out of a total of 400 in the locality, have already gotten used to eating lunch. For most of them it is probably the most consistent meal of the day, because they come from large families with limited material possibilities. The unpleasant part is that they will only enjoy the meals until the end of the school year, and the food preparation will resume at the beginning of the next school year, unless a miracle happens and the town hall manages to get funds for the summer vacation period as well.
“We want the sponsors to realize the real utility and financially support us to open a third canteen, during the summer vacation, in Constanța”
The canteen was created by the Șoapta Florilor Association and Galicea Mare City Hall, with the financial support of a powerful agricultural company. Through the project implemented by the association, “Together we help a village”, a canteen for students was set up not many years ago in the town of Suditi, in Ialomița county, which has been operating since 2024.
You would think that a portion of food is not a big deal, although the cost of food for a school year amounts to 50,000 euros, according to the estimates of Isabela Stefan-Iorga, the president of the Association “Şoapta Florilor”. When you instead see the effect the food portion has had in other communities, you realize how important it is to provide this basic need.
“Any parent is more at peace knowing that their child will receive a cooked and healthy meal at school, regardless of the situation at home. And the benefits of social canteens are seen over time, giving children more security, energy for learning and greater chances of success in life, helping entire groups of students not to drop out of school. We want the sponsors to realize the real usefulness and impact of such a project for the entire community and to financially support us to open a third canteen, during the summer vacation, in a rural community in Constanța county”said Isabela Ștefan-Iorga.
How the canteen was arranged
For the setting up of the canteen, which looks like a small restaurant, the association, with the support of the sponsor, and the Galicea Mare Town Hall worked hand in hand. “Flower Whisper” will also provide food for the entire next school year.
“The cost is over 50,000 euros per year, strictly for food, but there are other costs as well. The town hall contributed with labor to set up the canteen. We bought the materials necessary for the arrangement, cold rooms, machines, and the town hall took care of the assembly and arrangement part. When we choose communities, we discuss. The cook, too, will be employed by the town hall. There are town halls where the authorities had a very good impact, but also some where they were not so involved and we also withdrew. In Suditi we are in the second school year and they are about to enter the third school year, but we are also trying there, and in Dolj, to organize charity events, where funds are still collected, to ensure the next year. Because we have funds, but think that maybe next year the sponsor, if the profit is small, can no longer support at the same level, that can also happen”added Isabela Ștefan-Iorga.
From the experience of interventions in other communities, the parents of the beneficiaries begin, over time, to get involved and support this effort as much as they can. They bring products that they produce in their own household and even end up donating to the cafeteria when they make memorials for the souls of their loved ones.
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At Galicea Mare, the problem of supporting the operation of the canteen during the summer also arises, once the children have gotten used to the hot meal.
“If the community wants and supports during the summer, we have no problem. We support during the school period because the project is written to prevent school dropouts. And we have seen over time the effect of such initiatives. We have seen canteens in Dobrogea, in localities where children from half the village did not go to school, and within 5-6 years there was zero school dropouts”. Isabela Ștefan-Iorga also showed.
The canteen was set up in partnership between the town hall and the association PHOTO: Assoc. Whisper of the Flowers
There are needs of this kind in many localities, but no matter how much they would like to, says the representative of the association, it is very difficult to raise funds first for the equipment – only the machines that meet the sanitary standards cost approximately 40,000 euros – and later for the provision of food. For this reason, communities are chosen where on the one hand there is a need, but there is also involvement from the local community and the authorities.
“One condition was that they should not be in the hot meal program, because they are schools in the government program,” the representative of the association also specified.
The support for the children of Greater Galicea Mare would also like to extend it to the procurement of supplies for the beginning of the school year and to the offering of clothes at the beginning of the cold season, which are often real reasons why children stay at home. This is what the association has done in several communities, and the families thus supported have appreciated the help provided.
“We have been trying since September to find a solution”
The mayor of Galicea Mare, Cristian Văduva, says that for this short period in which the canteen will operate, until the end of the school year, the cook has agreed to work without money.
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“School ends on the 19th, I made a volunteer contract, and in September we will find a solution”, explained the mayor.
As for the beneficiaries, they are children from families with great needs. “There are families who have 5-6 children, they are in a precarious situation, beneficiaries of social assistance. In the first days they couldn't even believe what was happening. We are trying everything possible to keep them in school. I believe that any small brick that we lay now will make them pay back the help they received later, when they become adults. There are 120 children, not all of them are students of the school, we have 397 children in total, from Kindergarten to 8th grade. It would be really good to be able to offer them all a hot meal, and we're trying to find solutions to attract other companies, associations, to be able to expand. the mayor also said.
They also thought, as Isabela Ștefan-Iorga stated, about a fundraiser, because they would like to extend the hot meal service to other categories of vulnerable people, such as the elderly without help. They are, moreover, the beneficiaries of the portions that remain on the days when absences are registered. Social Assistance takes care of taking food to the most vulnerable, and this happens by rotation, because the need is great and there are not enough resources, for now, for everyone.
