Interim President of the Republic of Moldova, Michael Ghimpu, issued a series of presidential decrees for specialists in different fields who were decorated with orders and medals.

President Ghimpu on the left - Dr. Pruzensky on the right.

The Order of Honor was awarded to Dr. William Michael Pruzensky, President of the International Partnership for Human Development in the United States, in recognition and deep gratitude for his contribution to programs of special humanitarian assistance to Moldova, especially in regard to helping the children of Moldova.  Dr. Pruzenky is one of very few foreigners to receive this honor.  

Dr. Pruzensky thanked President Ghimpu for the decoration.  He also thanked the American people for supporting his humanitarian efforts in Moldova.  IPHD, he said, had brought over $135 million of aid to the people of Moldova between 1994 and 2008, which included 118,000 tons of food aid from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, $25 million in cash assistance for projects such as repairs of schools, purchases of hospital equipment, for child health care, credit programs for small farmers and many other projects.  About 2 out of every 5 Moldovans received some form of aid during that 14-year period.  Dr. Pruzensky also thanked the President of Moldova for the cooperation IPHD received from the Moldovan Government and people to undertake a very successful Food for Education Program between 2001 and 2008 during which time as many as 370,000 children in pre-schools and elementary (primary) schools received a prepared school lunch each day with USDA-donated foods.  Prior to this IPHD program, there was virtually no school lunch program in Moldova.  In 2008, IPHD transitioned the school lunch program with its 370,000 children to the Moldovan Government which now provides up to $30 million annually to support - becoming a real success story for USDA and the American people. 

In order to facilitate the operation of the school lunch program, IPHD repaired and/or built school kitchens, and in some cases school water systems.  It also developed and strengthened 1,500 PTAs and community support groups, which provide local foods to the schools.  Dr. Pruzensky noted there are other success stories, such as the USAID $11 million program in 2000-2001 to purchase and distribute coal to the elderly during a severe winter and to repair heating systems.  Another to aid children in homes for the physically and mentally retarded.  IPHD also shipped medical supplies and other needs to Moldova, a country that came into being between Romania and the Ukraine after the Soviet Union broke up.  Today, a country of over 4 million, it is still lacking in resources and everyday amenities that Americans take for granted.  School teachers earn less than $100 monthly, and many elderly live on $15-$20 per month.  It is the poorest country in Europe. 

Dr. Pruzensky also thanked the partner organization IPHD worked with during that time - the Medical Foundation of Moldova. Especially he was grateful for the hard work of the five Americans he had assigned to Moldova and the local staff of IPHD.  Between 1992 and 2010, Dr. Pruzensky made over 25 visits to the IPHD programs in Moldova.