In the impoverished republic of Moldova, squeezed between Romania and Ukraine, Terri Briant Booth found love.

Booth, 55, visited the Maryland-sized country this April after receiving an invitation from a friend.

"It sort of came up at the spur of the moment," she says of the trip. "I didn't even think about it. I just said yes."

Booth was the only Bellingham resident in the group, which included a variety of ages and faiths traveling to the capital city of Chisinau to help at a local church.

"This rag-tag group of us went, not really knowing what we were going to do or how we were going to be used," she says. "We just had this adventure."

Arriving in the city was a bit of a shock for the group. Though agricultural Moldova had once been the bread basket of the Soviet Union, after the union's breakup, the country's infrastructure was shot and it struggled to support its citizens.

"We toured the houses and it was unbelievable," she says. "It was a post-modern European city, but it was like a time warp. You drive down the street and see a Mercedes and then turn and see a mud hut with no running water."

Many of the middle-aged citizens left the country to find work, and often children and the elderly must fend for themselves on about $50 a month. The church where Booth volunteered offers a hot lunch program for seniors as well as an after-school program where kids can wash their clothes and get new ones.

"It's sort of a whirlwind all the things we did," says Booth, executive director of local nonprofit Visiting Nurse Home Care. "One of the things I was most passionate about was the hot lunch program for seniors because that's my deal."

Outside of the capital, the group took a long drive to the middle of nowhere to a town called Baurci. While there, they did art projects with the kids in a huge community room lit with a single bulb. Though she didn't speak the language, the smiles and laughter let her know that the kids were having a good time.

"It was amazing to have moments to share with people with whom you have nothing in common but your humanity, your trust and silly art projects," she says.

More than the tissue flowers, the group also delivered food and educational materials to the small town, which can get isolated.

Booth calls the two-week trip an opportunity, a blessing and a reminder.

"It was a story of love," she says. "The whole experience we had shows what a little love can do. The abandoned children and abandoned elders we met were taken in by this little church, and when they were they came alive."

Seeing the poverty and squalor was humbling but also inspiring for Booth. Though she runs a nonprofit and works with United Way, she's also vowed to make other small, personal efforts, such as knitting a bag for a Dorothy Place auction.

"If reaffirmed my faith that we can make a difference," she says. "While I don't think I can go back to Moldova, I recommitted myself to the fact that love can make a difference in my community."