Maria Petkova from Tulip Foundation opened the ceremony and spoke about the significance of the volunteers and their efforts, the volunteering as an ultimate exercise of democracy when every day, every week thousands of volunteers in Bulgaria give their efforts, time, will and skills to show in practice what and how could be dome so that we all live together well.
The President Rosen Plevneliev congratulated the volunteers in Bulgaria with the words „I am one of you, I am with you with my hearth, with my thoughts and actions. What else if not doing good makes sense? Even more when it is difficult and hard.“ He spoke also about the power of volunteering and involving more and more people in volunteering. „You are a model, you come from around the country and every one of you is an example with the good you do, the hand you give, the sense you bring and the active position you have. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, I am with you!“
Momchil Pandev from the National School of Music L. Pipkov performed a Prelude – phantasy by Gaspar Kasado as a special greeting for participants and guests at the ceremony.
Reneta Veneva, Chair of the Board of NAVA spoke about the initiatives nominated this year. “It is very important that every fourth initiative comes from a small settlement and there are more and more new organisations and volunteer groups that appear each next year.” She shared also the good news that there are younger children involved in volunteering, as young as 5-6 years old. Reneta Veneva stressed on the fact that voluntary organisations are still expecting a law on volunteering and a system for valuing the skills gained in volunteering.
Maria- Theresa Karageorgieva and Antonia Mircheva, students at the National School of Music L. Pipkov contributed to the emotional mood in the hall by performing Sonata for duo flutes by Georg Friedrich Telemann.
During the most moving part of the ceremony the members of the Jury announced the awards. Aneta Milkova, member of the Board of the Bulgarian National Television, Alexey Lazarov, Chief Editor of Capital newspaper and Ognian Zlatev, Head of Representative Office of European Commission in Bulgaria selected the best initiatives on the basis of their results, the importance for the local community, the number and the involvement of the participants, the impact of the initiative for the development of the capacity of the volunteers and the team of the organisation, the financial effectiveness.
Ognian Zlatev started by saying that „it is very important that in days of global turbulences we do not forget the human nature inside ourselves. That is what makes volunteers do what they do.“ He invited the volunteers in the initiative “The voice of the children” and the team of Future for Children Association, Kazanluk to receive the award. Maria Gineva, director of the association and a group of students told about their activities aimed at stimulating active citizenship and social responsibility among young people and preservation of the nature in Kazanluk.
Alexey Lazarov said that “this next award goes to an organisation that works in a sphere that is highly popular in recent times – refugees. The political populism allowed that prejudices overcome the human nature. The awarded organisation does exactly the opposite. The volunteers help refugees to get oriented in our city, help them in everyday life, in contacts with institutions, in coping at a difficult moment in their lives.“ Emanuil Patashev and a group of volunteers Mentors – Friends from Caritas Sofia spoke about their work for integration of refugees through regular meetings and talks.
Aneta Milkova presented the initiative “When we become 10000 we are going to plant a forest!” of Foundation 77. “You deserve our appreciation because you take your time to help others” she turned to the volunteers in Bulgaria. “And this initiative is special as there are numerous children and young people involved in it – some 10 000 children from kindergartens and schools have planted more than 20 000 trees. This is such wonderful opportunity for them to learn to be good people.” Nikola Rahnev told about the campaign for planting trees by volunteers and mainly young people.
At the end of the ceremony the attending volunteers and guests praised all volunteers in Bulgaria with a long lasting applauding.
In total 51 initiatives of volunteers realised in towns and villages are competing for the Volunteer Initiative 2016 awards. The competition was announced by Tulip Foundation and the National Alliance for Voluntary Action for a sixth successive year and was open for organisations and groups that have organised voluntary initiatives during the year regardless the place and the period of the realisation, the aim and organisation of the actions, the sources of funding, number and age of the volunteers are invited to participate.
The awards in the media:
