In May 2025, Loredana left Italy with her two children, Francesco and Leonardo, who were then aged 3 and 9. She fled a relationship marked by violence, to save her own life and to be able to offer her children a normal and safe life.

She returned to Moinești, the place she had once left, and started from scratch.

Her former form tutor and classmates rallied round immediately: rent, food, nappies, school supplies – the simple things without which a family cannot start afresh. The Pas Alternativ Association offered her emotional support, counselling and access to pro bono legal assistance.

Loredana is a cancer patient. And yet, what has earned her the respect of all of us who know her is not just the ordeal she has been through, but the way she carries on: composed, dignified and, above all, committed to remaining the warm and stable mother her children need.

And the children are thriving.

Francesco is an adorable little foodie. Leonardo is empathetic and surprisingly talented in both music and maths. Since they’ve been in Romania, both have developed wonderfully, in a peaceful environment, amongst people who offer them security and a sense of normality.

They don’t need anything extraordinary. They need a clean home, food in the fridge, school supplies, clothes, nursery and school. And time for their mum to look after them and her own health.

50 or 100 lei a month, from each of us who can afford it, can make a huge difference when there are enough of us.

For Loredana, your help means stability. For Leonardo and Francesco, it means something even simpler: the chance to be children, to play and to spend time with their mum – with ‘her little mice’, as Loredana calls them.

They are two utterly normal and simple children.

Their mum is their whole world.

They deserve our help, out of that simple humanity that understands what it means to struggle and to be alone.