RAKE is a small charity set up by a group of dedicated volunteers who got together after witnessing the horrors of some of Romania's childcare institutions in the early 1990s.
They registered as a charity in 1994, having spent the previous four years working to relieve some of the hardships for the people in the Vaslui region of North East Romania. They delivered clothes, shoes and toiletries to a number of villages, schools and state childcare institutions. They developed a good relationship with the local authorities and doctors and were able to supply much needed medical equipment to local hospitals.

In 1993 they met up with Linda, a British paediatric nurse working as a volunteer in a small village orphanage caring for a group of severely neglected children. This led to a change of focus with less aid trips being made and more effort being put into changing the lives of the children in the orphanage.

The children, aged 8-10 years were severely malnourished and had spent their lives confined to rusty cots. They were afraid of human contact, bottle fed, incontinent and unable to walk or talk. Linda had gained their trust and they started to see amazing changes in the children.

When the children were moved to a large state institution for the disabled Linda went with them but they soon began to deteriorate back to their former fearful behaviour.
RAKE were desperate to help our young people and joined forces with The Myosotis Trust, another charity working in the area with whom they had had loose connections over the years. In 2012 they were able to open Casa Trandafirilor (House of Roses) which provides a home for five of the young people and a young man also from the state care system who joined "the family" in September 2015. The house is not owned by us but is being loaned rent free on a long term basis. Ideally we will raise the £56,000 necessary to buy the house and help secure the long term future for our young family.