Casa San Giuseppe is located in Odorhei, Romania, in the heart of Transylvania, a region that takes us back in time, evoking the Italian countryside of the 1930s and 1940s.

The large building was donated in the early 1990s by a wealthy Swiss industrialist to the sisters of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart in Bucharest. They provide a welcoming home and shelter for children who have endured difficult lives, leaving behind inadequate housing and severe family, emotional, financial, and social hardship.

About a dozen sisters run the home, organizing schooling and everyday activities for the children and young people in their care and providing everything they need for their physical, emotional, educational, and social development. The home is supported entirely by donations from generous benefactors. Around 150 children and young people aged 2 to 19 live there. Many former residents, now adults, return to visit the “family” they grew up with, protected by the sisters’ maternal love.

Several years ago, a Romanian television crew brought the work of this group of sisters to national attention, highlighting the quality of life in the home and the excellent education the children receive. Many go on to earn scholarships to attend universities across Romania, achieving considerable success.

This publicity touched the hearts of people in both Romania and Italy. Wishing to support this haven of peace in a country still affected by the dark years of dictatorship, they began donating essential supplies. These enable the sisters to support not only the children in their care but also the poor people in the surrounding area who knock on Casa San Giuseppe’s door.

The support that Fondazione Irma Romagnoli delivers directly to the home consists of food supplies that allow all its residents to survive the winter months, when temperatures drop to 35 degrees below zero. Food reserves are invaluable because roads become impassable during those months, making local assistance impossible.

Some members of Fondazione Irma Romagnoli visit the large Casa San Giuseppe regularly, sharing everyday moments in an atmosphere of love that can be felt everywhere: in the dining hall at breakfast, in the small Christian chapel at the heart of the home, in prayers and shared silence, while playing in the corridors or studying in the bedrooms, and even at the Saturday-night dances in the large gym, transformed into a disco.