By Gary Martin - Express-News
WASHINGTON — A San Antonio mother and daughter who started a ministry for special-needs children will receive a White House volunteer service award from President George W. Bush today when he arrives in Waco.
WASHINGTON — A San Antonio mother and daughter who started a ministry for special-needs children will receive a White House volunteer service award from President George W. Bush today when he arrives in Waco.
Lidia and Becky Oprean, founders of Becky's Hope Ministries in San Antonio, are being honored for their international volunteer work that has brought wheelchairs and hope to families with children born with developmental birth defects.
“These children are a blessing, not a punishment,” Lidia Oprean said. “We hope Becky's Hope will flourish after this meeting with President Bush.”
The President's Volunteer Service Award was created after Bush's 2002 State of the Union address in which he called on Americans to help their neighbors and communities.
The President's Council on Service and Civic Participation was established in 2003. It has designated more than 400,000 people for the volunteer service award.
The Opreans will receive their award when Bush arrives in Air Force One at a Waco airport.
Lidia Oprean said the award, and the chance to meet the president, is the answer to her prayers.
“We can't sleep, we cannot eat, we are so looking forward to it,” she said.
Oprean, her husband and son came to the United States from Romania in 1987 to escape the oppression of the communist-ruled country.
When she arrived in California, she was seven months pregnant, and ultrasound showed that her unborn child suffered from spina bifida. When the baby was born with the defect, Lidia said she was devastated.
“I screamed,” she said. “I wanted to die.”
She credits her faith for helping her to eventually see the blessing of having the child, and learning to live with a special-needs daughter.
“Today, I am the happiest mom in the world. And I live in the best country in the world,” she said.
The Opreans founded Becky's Hope Ministries to help other families, both parents and siblings, cope and manage life with special-needs children.
They were selected for the President's Volunteer Service Award for providing encouragement and education to more than 800 parents and siblings in the United States and Romania, where they travel to each year.
Before founding Becky's Hope, the Opreans volunteered nine years for Joni and Friends Ministry in California, which distributed wheelchairs to people with disabilities in Romania.
“This is an honor and a privilege to meet President Bush,” Lidia Oprean said. “America is the best country in the whole world. We are so blessed.”
Becky Oprean si mama sa Lidia au primit, vineri, de la presedintele american in exercitiu George W. Bush, un premiu pentru activitatea de voluntariat in care sunt implicate.
Evenimentul s-a desfasurat pe aeroportul din Waco, unde Bush a venit cu avionul administratiei prezidentiale americane, Air Force One, potrivit publicatiei San Antonio News.
Cele doua fondatoare ale fundatiei "Becky's Hope Ministries", au oferit sprijin la sute de familii care au copii nascuti diferite forme de malformatii congenitale si care le-au afectat dezvoltarea fizica.
Premiul pentru servicii de voluntariat, pe care cele doua romance l-au primit, face parte dintr-un proiect lansat de administratia Bush, cu scopul de a incuraja activitatile de voluntariat din SUA.
Initiativa acestei asociatii a pornit de la un handicap cu care se confrunta Bechy, din cauza caruia traieste intr-un scaun cu rotile.
Familia Oprean a emigrat in SUA in 1987. In acel moment, era formata din sotii Oprea si din fiul lor, iar la doua luni dupa sosire s-a nascut si Bechy.
La prima ecografie, realizata la un cabinet medical din California, statul in care au ales sa se stabileasca, Lidia a descoperit ca bebelusul suferea de sindromul "spina bifida". Socul aflarii vestii le-a intristat noul inceput in cadrul societatii americane.
"Spina bifida" este o afectiune congenitala care mai poarta numele de ruptura de coloana. Defectul afecteaza fetusii in prima luna de sarcina, atunci cand cele doua parti ale coloanei nu reusesc sa se uneasca. Acum, afectiunea poate fi tratata.
"Acesti copii sunt o binecuvantare, nu o pedeapsa", precizeaza Lidia Oprean, citata de publicatia americana.
"Nu am putut manca, nu am putut dormi de emotia acestei intalniri. Acest premiu este raspunsul la toate rugaciunile mele. Astazi sunt cea mai fericita mama si traiesc in cea mai buna tara din lume", a mai precizat Lidia Oprean, pentru publicatia San Antonio News.
Pe parcursul activitatii de voluntariat, familia Oprean a consiliat peste 800 de familii care s-au confruntat cu cazuri asemanatoare, cu copii in scaune cu rotile sau cu afectiuni care le afecta functia locomotorie.
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