When Melania Medeleanu founded the Zi de BINE Association, in February 2020, Romania was unknowingly preparing for a period of isolation and uncertainty. Her idea seemed, at first glance, a simple one: to turn people’s birthdays into opportunities to do good. In just a few years, it has already become a national movement that has gone beyond the boundaries of momentary solidarity and has become one of the most active organizations in the area of social interventions.
Photo source: Personal archive Zi de BINE Association
“We started from the desire to build a platform through which good can be done simply, concretely and visibly”, declares Melania Medeleanu for Adevărul. “Each of us has a special day: the birthday that can be turned into a good day for someone else. From there, a community of donors, partners and volunteers grew that quickly expanded nationally.”
In the first years, Zi de BINE was perceived as a quick action organization: specific interventions, fundraising campaigns, humanitarian projects in areas where the state was absent. Over time, however, the team began to change direction: from emergency to construction. “The problems we address are real and urgent: limited access to mental health services, the lack of centers dedicated to young people at risk of addiction, the need for support for seniors or children from vulnerable communities. We build projects that leave concrete traces: renovated spaces, functional therapeutic programs, support networks and stronger communities”. says Medeleanu.
Among the emblematic projects of the Association is CREAATIV, the first center in Romania dedicated to adolescent drug users, opened within the Voila Psychiatric Hospital. “Young people receive psychological, educational and therapeutic support in a safe and modern setting. The program is already a model of good practice and we aim to replicate it in other counties as well”, explains Medeleanu.
Another project, KIT – Keep In Touch, is a peer-to-peer program for high school students, through which students in the 9th and 10th grades are trained in communication skills, emotional management and peer support. In the last year, 110 students and 30 teachers from six Bucharest high schools participated in the training workshops.
Good lessons
Zi de BINE Community Center also hosts the NEperdute program, dedicated to seniors who rediscover the joy of socializing. In 2024, more than 300 elderly people participated in foreign language, painting, dance or sports courses. But perhaps the most famous recent project is “Lessons of GOOD”, made in partnership with Sphera Franchise Group. The program provides children from the Ferentari community with hot meals, remedial lessons and scholarships that allow them to stay in school. “For these children, access to remedial education, a hot meal and a friendly environment are not an extra, but a necessity to build a better future,” says Melania Medeleanu.
Also, at the center of the association is an interdisciplinary team made up of psychologists, therapists, trainers, communication and fundraising specialists.
Codruța Marin, a psychologist in the emotional development program, observes how the children involved “they learned to identify their emotions and express them in an appropriate way. They discovered that saying NO is an act of strength and self-respect, not weakness. In the age of digitization, they have learned to self-monitor and deal with cyberbullying. If at first it was difficult for them to identify their strengths, now they know what makes them happy and they start to believe in their own qualities.”
From 2020 to today, the Zi de BINE Association has run more than 60 projects throughout the country, with more than 10,000 direct beneficiaries and investments of more than one million euros in educational, social and mental health programs.
Melania Medeleanu says that the success of the projects is reflected in the personal transformations of the beneficiaries: teenagers who return to school, seniors who regain their confidence, children who define their dreams. “In the way a teenager manages to return to school after an addiction episode, in the way an elderly person rediscovers the joy of being part of a community, or in the way a child from a vulnerable neighborhood musters the courage to say “i want to be a doctor”.”
Those who want to join the initiatives of the Zi de BINE Association or request support can access the official website, zidebine.ro, where active projects, donation campaigns and ways to get involved are announced monthly. Zi de BINE Community Center operates in Bucharest, on Uranus street no. 150, and can be contacted by phone 0725 565 375 or by email at [email protected].
