Days of work and joy

NATO troops pitched in on June 15 and 16 to move the Tartu Christian Adolescents’ Home to its new home. Twenty-two soldiers from Great Britain came from the base at Tapa, bringing their muscle and equipment to help the staff and young people transfer furniture and other property to the Home’s new abode on Jaama street. It was a substantial effort, but at the end everybody was happy. Having called the villa on Era street home for 20 years, it was high time to leave the over a hundred-year-old structure. Its neglected maintenance during the long Soviet occupation caused maintenance and repair expenses to rise to a point where investing in a rental facility made no sense. The new home’s purchase and additional construction was financed by the Estonian American Fund, thanks to bequests by Maia Vanaveski, Hilda Kaepa, and Linda Saar. Adding to the Fund’s EUR 1,000,000 investment was the Tartu city government’s contribution of EUR 50,000 and a like amount from the Home itself.