In 2019, we visited the Mahmudia commune with Geologist Vasile Bacalu and his family as honored guests, aiming to pay tribute to one of the most important discoverers of mineral deposits in Dobrogea. Together with Mr. Vasile Bacalu, our longtime friend and neighbor, we decided to support Dr. Condeiu's idea of establishing an annual scholarship from Dr. Condeiu's funds. This scholarship has been awarded every year, upon completion of the eighth grade, to a student designated by the Board of Directors of the "Vasile Bacalu" Vocational School.

The decision to establish the "SOS Education - Foundation for a Better Future" was made in 2022, following many discussions on education and how we could contribute to its improvement. Geologist Vasile Bacalu, who participated in these discussions until his passing at the end of 2019, contributed through his perspective on the Danube Delta community, helping us better understand the difficulties and needs of this area. Thus, at the beginning of 2023, the foundation became functional and began implementing some of our programs, in collaboration with the Vocational School "Vasile Bacalu". Here are some of these programs: "Chess for the Entire School", "The Child and His Tree", "Fun Science", "Love for Sports", programs carried out through some donations from the foundation (sports equipment, chemistry laboratory equipment, trees, etc.), but especially through the involvement of teachers from Mahmudia, whom we thank sincerely.

Our ideas have evolved, and we have developed the concept of "School - a large family and community" to create an educational environment that involves not only students and teachers but also their families, the local community, and other institutions. Then, out of love for nature and desiring students to learn in and from nature, we developed the concept of "School in the garden". We focused on how students learn, trying to emphasize both the pleasure of discovering knowledge in an innovative and participatory way and the involvement and educational contribution of the community. We wanted to contribute through creativity and inventiveness, encouraging students to develop harmoniously and apply their skills in everyday life. These ideas have turned into concrete program proposals, with a focus on implementing them in primary and secondary education institutions in Romania, especially in disadvantaged areas.

Our foundation relies on individual donations and sponsorships, and therefore your donations are essential to continue implementing the programs proposed by us, and we are grateful for the support of those who wish to contribute to improving the Romanian educational system.

The idea of creating a foundation to help the educational process in Romania emerged after numerous discussions between the founding members Dr. Cristian (Chris) Condeiu and Engineer Serban Ghita, friends for over 60 years. Dr. Condeiu was well acquainted with the Romanian educational system, teaching at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, but was also part of the American educational system, teaching at several universities in the United States after working in the American pharmaceutical industry. Engineer Serban Ghita was familiar with the Romanian education, being part of the medical research system and having expertise in modern teaching methods, especially distance learning, using advanced technologies. The discussions initially focused on improving the education, the lack of interest of the new generation in acquiring a minimum level of education (especially as functional illiteracy in Romania was alarmingly increasing), the increasing school dropout rates, and the need to rethink educational programs to be more attractive, informative, and practical, less based on memorization and more on inventiveness and creativity, which should be encouraged rather than suppressed. These ideas were developed, and consensus was reached on changing the learning approach to one that is engaging and participatory, emphasizing the joy of learning and focusing on applying knowledge in everyday life without coercion.

All these ideas were later consolidated into program proposals that could be implemented in an organized manner in any educational institution in Romania, with focus on disadvantaged and less developed areas of the country. Geologist Vasile Bacalu, a longtime friend and neighbor of the founding members, also engaged in the discussions about improving education in Romania, being a native of Mahmudia commune in Tulcea County, an underdeveloped area of the Danube Delta. Being the youngest of a modest family with 12 children, he realized that the only way to succeed in life was to get a good education. He was an outstanding student, became a distinguished geologist, and did not forget where he came from, returning to his birthplace where he discovered significant deposits of siderurgical limestone. These discoveries led to the elimination of ore imports and revitalized the area by building a mine/quarry with around 3,000 miners and developing the port of the locality.

When he learned that Dr. Condeiu wanted to initiate an annual scholarship in his name to help outstanding students with modest financial means, Geologist Bacalu hugged him and, with tears in his eyes, confessed that it was an extraordinary idea. In 2019, the founding members visited the commune of Mahmudia, with Geologist Bacalu and his family as honored guests. This visit and interactions with the School Director Prof. Florica Stoica, Deputy Mayor Vasilica Uncu, President of the local mine union Mr. Tantar, and Geologist Engineer Petro Vasile, successor and continuator of Mr. Bacalu, cemented the idea of creating a foundation to address the improvement of educational programs in Romania, which happened in early 2023, when the foundation was registered as non-profit organization and began organized implementation of programs, in cooperation with the Vocational School “Vasile Bacalu” in Mahmudia and local authorities from the municipality, the mine, etc. Dr. Ana Giurgiuca, a psychiatrist and the President of the Romanian Association of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, a prominent figure in the medical world in Romania and a person with teaching experience at the "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, was co-opted into the Board of Directors. Between 2019 and 2023, the founding members carried out multiple actions at the school, testing the effectiveness of proposals and improving the lives of children, launching numerous pilot programs. Since 2023, a protocol has been signed and implemented between the Vocational School “Vasile Bacalu” and the Foundation SOS Education - Foundation for a Better Future, protocol which includes current and future actions.

Among the already implemented programs, mention should be made of “Chess for the whole school”, “The Child and His Tree”, “Fun Science”, “Love for Sports”, the annual scholarship. Among the future programs, we should mention “The Little Beekeeper Club”, “School Greenhouse”, “Joy of Being in School”, “Program for Drug Prevention”, “After-School Program”, “Online School”, “Responsible Use of AI”, intensive English language learning program, photo club, vlogging courses, and tourism guides, etc. Annual seminars were organized in 2023 and will continue in the future. Sports equipment was donated to the school, two teachers were sponsored for chess courses, and chess became one of the favorite sports at the school. For the implementation of online programs such as English language learning, the foundation provided the school with 20 sets of SONY headphones and microphones to facilitate online activities. As part of the "Fun Science" program, which will continue in the future, science lessons such as "Extracting caffeine from tea" presented online by Dr. Condeiu have been organized. For attractive biology lessons, the foundation will donate 5 electron microscopes that can be used online so that students can see the microscope images on their tablet screens, generated by the teacher during the lesson.

The foundation bases its activities on individual donations and will submit applications for sponsorship and education funds in the future. For the current year, individual donations are essential for the implementation of scheduled actions, and we thank in advance to all those who want to help the Romanian educational system.