On June 3 at the Hyatt Regency Sofia, we welcomed donors, volunteers and supporters of Cedar Foundation at our traditional Donor Appreciation Day. In their honour, we hosted a cocktail reception where we presented our 2023 Annual Report, shared inspiring stories of life in our centres, and talked about our successes over the past year.
At the entrance, each of you left your wish to Cedar Foundation on a canvas with a house painted on it. It is not by chance that we chose the house as a symbol of our work. In 2023, in Cedar’s family-type houses, our team provided 24-hour care for more than 60 children at risk and people with disabilities, deprived of parental care. In our counselling centre, we continued our support for 30 young people with intellectual difficulties and 10 families through therapy, counselling and psychological help so that they know they are not alone.
And last but not least, we developed a close-knit community of people for whom caring for the vulnerable is a shared responsibility. This community helps us to be home and support.
As a token of appreciation to everyone who is a part of it, during the cocktail, we presented awards we’ve named “Proud Cedar Ambassador”, and the attendees received another special gift – delicious cookies, prepared with great care by our young people in Kyustendil.
The event was opened with an address by our Executive Director – Alexandrina Dimitrova, who thanked all the guests for their support and shared with them several inspiring stories from the past year. One of the stories was that of Katya* – a girl from our family home in Kazanlak.
“In Katya’s file, you will read that she is 14 years old with a diagnosis of spastic cerebral palsy and moderate mental retardation. But if you ask our team, Katya is an outgoing girl who loves to draw, sing, cook and get her hair done. She has a new hobby now – gardening, which has become accessible to her thanks to the so-called “raised beds” we built as part of the new area in our family homes in Kazanlak.”
In addition to the stories that moved everyone present, we told about some of the successes achieved. One of our main focuses in 2023 was the Foundation’s advocacy work. We became part of the Management Board of the National Network for Children – the largest network of civil society organizations that support children and families in Bulgaria. We actively participated in working groups related to the development of strategies and laws aimed at improving the well-being of the people in the country. We participated in the development of the National Strategy for the Child (2024-2030) and started working on changing the Ordinance for Quality of Social Services. This allows us to strengthen our presence in advocacy and make a difference in the lives of thousands of vulnerable children and families.
The rest of the highlights of our activities over the past year can be found in our Annual Report. We would like to thank from the bottom of our hearts everyone who was with us to learn more about them and celebrate the successes of 2023 together. We would also like to thank our main event partner, Hyatt Regency Sofia, for providing the hall and catering for the 3rd consecutive year free of charge, as well as Yavor Stefanov for capturing the event.
*The name of the child has been changed.