The History of NOROC

The following history is taken from the NOROC website.

In the winter of 1990-1991, Dr. Fred White, an endocrinologist from Abilene, Texas, and his wife, Carolyn, watch the tragic news reports about abandoned children in post-Communist Romania. Like millions of Americans, the Whites were haunted by photos of the thousands of unloved and neglected children crowded into Romanian institutions. Although the Whites already had 3 children, they felt called to open their home to a Romanian orphan. In January of 1991, Fred traveled to Romania, returning home with a new 22 month-old Romanian adopted daughter, Natalie.

Let in 1991, the Whites founded NOROC (New Opportunities for Romanian Orphaned Children) as an adoption agency, to offer assistance to other American families in the difficult process of adopting these orphans. Throughout the 1990s, the Whites helped many families adopt Romanian children. But there were still 125,000 abandoned children left behind in Romania who needed help.

In 1997, with the help of Romanian volunteers and contributions from the Presbyterian Church, NOROC began a new outreach to Romanian orphans by paying retired adults to spend time each day with orphans. The program was names Bunici Inmosi, which translates to mean Big Hearted Grannies. Grannies are paid 1.25 an hour (double their normal retirement pension) to nurture up to 4 children daily. The children involved in this program benefit enormously from the daily specialized attention they receive from the grannies. In turn, the grannies have the opportunity to supplement their retirement pension while making a meaningful contribution to the lives of the children.

As the needs of the children of Tulcea county, Romania, were discovered, NOROC continued to expand to meet them. Initially, NOROC placed emphasis through the Big-Hearted Grannies program on nurturing infants and younger children. But the youth of Romania have been just as neglected by the Romanian system. In the past few years, NOROC has founded 2 more programs to help orphaned children and teenagers feel love, develop socially and integrate into Romanian society. High Hearted Friends and Big Hearted Teachers coordinate activities for children in the handicapped hospital and in the homes for girls and boys ages 7-18.