So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10
Peeteli church was completed in 1938. The building work was led by the Baltic-German pastor Roderich Bidder, who served the congregation from 1929 to 1939.
Helping children began in 1997 on a winter night when nine children without parental care were met on the Kopli lines in North Tallinn.
In early September, five friends of the congregation members, along with one unemployed man who lived near the church and two men who had been released from prison and were unemployed, began renovations in the former pastor’s apartment on the second floor of the church.
In the spring of 1998, we began searching for a location to organize a summer camp for children. We found different campsites, but when we told them who we wanted to camp with, we were told that unfortunately, it was not possible. Just when the situation seemed quite hopeless, God led us to meet the people responsible for the Tumala Manor House near Orissaare.
our older street boys (Roman B., Sergei P., Roman S, Andrei A), aged 15-16, came to live in the basement of Peeteli church already in 1998 after the end of the summer camp in Saaremaa.
In the autumn of 1998, the pastor of the congregation, together with the church board and children’s supporters, made the decision that the only way to help the children was to offer them accommodation at Peeteli.
The street children’s Day Center’s work mainly took place in the corridor in front of the main church door, where the children were given warm food and where a shower room and toilet were built so that the children could wash themselves.