Mission Impossible: Mission Achieved
KEY FACTS
Items such as bedding, food, warm clothing, toys, and basic sanitary items are disturbed carefully, according to need, through the WJR supported Community Centres.
The Mission Impossible vans ensure that Jews living in periphery areas also have access to this critical aid and are able to join in with the activities at the Centres
This is the fifth Mission Impossible, and now this year’s vehicles have been taken to Moldova, a total of 14 new vans have been bought, transported and left in towns and cities around Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union
On Sunday 18 May, the WJR Mission Impossible team arrived back in the UK after spending Shabbat with the Moldovan Jewish community. This year’s 10-strong group of dedicated volunteers departed on Sunday 11th May and drove two nine-seater Renault vans 2690km from North London to Moldova – a journey of four days, crossing five borders – to deposit the vehicles at the WJR Community Centre in Kishinev.
The vans provide WJR’s partners on the ground with the means to reach elderly and disabled children living in remote villages outside of the main towns who are often unable both physically and financially to reach the Jewish Community Centres.
Mission Impossible is part of WJR’s Gifts in Kind (GiK) programme, which in the last five years has sent £17m worth of humanitarian aid, generously donated by the UK Jewish community, companies and manufacturers to needy communities in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Items such as bedding, food, warm clothing, toys, and basic sanitary items are disturbed carefully, according to need, through the WJR supported Community Centres. This vital lifeline of aid is eagerly awaited by thousands of needy families. The Mission Impossible vans ensure that Jews living in periphery areas also have access to this critical aid and are able to join in with the activities at the Centres.
Mr Gheorghe D. Saghin, Consul & First Secretary of the Moldovan Embassy in London, joined the send-off group last Sunday to offer his support for the remarkable work WJR is doing in his country of Moldova.
Mr. Saghin commented:
“I am delighted to be here today to wish the Mission Impossible team a safe and speedy journey – this is just one excellent example of WJR’s inspiring and hugely effective work in Eastern Europe, and on behalf of my country, may I express my gratitude to all who are part of this very special charity.”
This is the fifth Mission Impossible, and now this year’s vehicles have been taken to Moldova, a total of 14 new vans have been bought, transported and left in towns and cities around Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Each volunteer has raised a minimum of £5000 which covers every cost of the trip, including purchasing the vans. Mission Impossible has raised over £300,000 over the past five years.
The GiK project has hugely enhanced the Moldovan Jewish community’s profile, and has been acknowledged at Prime Minister level, as 15% of all the goods donated are shared with non-Jewish organisations and needy NGOs, receiving humanitarian aid from WJR as well. Following a drought in Moldova, WJR sent 24tons of dried food, of which 50% was donated to the non-Jewish community. On a recent trip to Moldova, Rosalind Bluestone, Overseas Project Manager for WJR, was invited to speak to the Vice Prime Minister to discuss WJR’s involvement with Moldova to acknowledge WJR’s support to the Jewish and wider community of Moldova.
