A Louth-based charity working with Romanian orphans will launch a new website today in a bid to raise funds and attract volunteers.
The charity, CrossCause, cares for nine children with special needs in a house in Nicoresti, in north-eastern Romania.
It is building a 300-metre extension to the house and will be able to care for 18 children when the new wing opens in June.
The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Dermot Ahern, will launch the website - www.crosscause.org - in Blackrock, Co Louth, this morning.
Mr Conor Hughes, a music shop owner, began the charity after he visited some state-run orphanages in Romania in 1998. Appalled by the conditions, he began fundraising to build the home. It provides full-time care to the nine children who have physical or mental disabilities. The children also receive speech therapy, physiotherapy and music therapy.
In an unusual move, four Irish volunteers pay €50 a week to work in the home. "Many people scratch their heads at that," said Mr Hughes. "But we feel it shows that they have genuine motives and they are not just out for a bit of fun." When the new wing of the orphanage is complete, it will cost about €56,000 a year to run the home.
