Grille proceeds benefit worthy cause

Issue date: 12/8/05
Publication: Middlebury Campus
Section: Features
Kerren McKeeman


Since the fall of her first year at Middlebury, Melissa Klein '07 has been delivering food for The Grille every Wednesday night to financially support two young girls in Romania who have been affected by the AIDS epidemic. The Grille Delivery runs every Wednesday night from 10-11:50 p.m., with a cost of two dollars per delivery. The program usually raises about $150 every week, all of which goes to supporting the girls that Klein sponsors.

The project started before Melissa was even a student at Middlebury, when she and her sister, Tessa Klein '05, teamed up with their father to raise money in support of Romanian children with AIDS. As reported by Health Aid UK, among all European countries, Romania's HIV situation remains the worst since almost 60 percent of European children who currently have AIDS are Romanian. Tessa and Melissa became involved in Health Aid Romania (HAR), which is a United Kingdom-based program that supports children with HIV and AIDS in Romania.

During high school, Tessa and Melissa both had the opportunity to travel to Romania and visit some of the institutions children with AIDS call home. Melissa explained that problematic living conditions in these children's homes make controlling the virus harder. She recalled how many of the boys bully other children and how girls are often subject to sexual molestation or rape.

In order to create a more stable and safe environment for the children in which they can be given more personalized care, HAR's goal is to reduce the number of children to eight or nine per home. But Tessa and Melissa had their own goal: to allocate two children per home and give them the opportunity to grow up without being segregated by society because of their disease.

When the Klein sisters were in high school at the American School in Switzerland, their father began an organization called Assisting Children with Aids (ACA), which soon grew to 70 members within their school. Local schools heard about the project and donated to the cause. After three years, the group had raised $40,000. With this money, they bought a modest house in Bucharest, renovated and furnished it and hired a full-time house-mother. On a visit to Romania, Melissa and Tessa met the two girls whom nurses determined would best adapt to a "normal life" outside the institution: Irina and Magdalena. These young girls had no possessions to their name and had never spent much time outside the institution. "We took them to the mall for the first time and then went bowling later," Melissa recalls. "They were weak and had trouble holding the bowling ball."

Melissa described Magdalena as a beautiful girl who used to have blond curls that fell far past her shoulders. After one of the nurses decided Magdalena had been rude, though, the nurse shaved Magdalena's head as punishment. Irina was born as a result of her mother being raped. The day Irina's mother planned to meet her for the first time, Irina had flowers prepared and waited with anticipation. Yet upon arrival, Irina's mother could not accept the flowers and left abruptly, unable to face her daughter and her past.

Because of their stories, Tessa and Melissa were compelled to help these girls. Using the money that Tessa and Melissa raised, the girls moved into their new home five years ago. They now have a dog and call their house-mother "mom." They have been attending school and have just started looking for part-time jobs. Melissa is especially happy with the results. "There is nothing like Magdalena and Irina's living situation in Romania and we hope that it will be replicable for HAR," she said.

The Kleins have proved that it is possible to save children from the unbearable experience of living in an institution, even if it is only one child at a time. Because all expenses must be paid by the organization - electricity, food, the house-mother's salary and the girls' medical bills - the Grille Delivery program provides the funds that the organization needs.

The program has been hugely successful and has covered the costs that Melissa hoped it would. "Grille delivery is a win-win situation," said Haley Gilbert '07.5, one of the delivery volunteers, "and I would say that if it were bigger we should do it more nights than just Wednesday!"

But Melissa is uncertain about the future of the Grille Delivery program. The money they earn each week has been decreasing to around $70, less than half the usual amount, due to less help from volunteers. Also, Melissa plans to study abroad next semester and is in need of more volunteers to continue the program, or she may have to step down and stop operations altogether. Eli Gordon, a Grille cook who has been working with Melissa since she started Grille Delivery two years ago, feels strongly about the cause. "Oh no, they've got to find some people to do it," she said. "If I weren't working until midnight I would stay and volunteer myself!"

Despite such enthusiasm, the future of the Grille Delivery program is unsure. "Everyone's so busy. It's a lot to ask of people," said Melissa. But in truth, a simple two dollars or two hours a week will go towards giving Magdalena and Irina a home and a future. If students order food to be delivered from the Wednesday nights or volunteer to help deliver, they will give Grille Delivery the chance to continue this J-Term and possibly during spring semester.