Love in action is the slogan of a charity campaign, entitled Holiday Heroes. The idea is to awaken compassion and help people in need, coordinator of the charity campaign Radoslav Kavaldzhiev says. The start of the campaign was given during the past Christmas. For just 3 weeks some 80,000 euro was collected and food for 1000 poor families was bought. The campaign continued during the Easter holidays and this time twice as many families were helped. This year the initiative is expected to provide support for some 5000 families. A whole army of volunteers have joined the cause, too. Holiday heroes are all who give time and energy to do something good for another human being, Radoslav Kavaldzhiev–Roro says.

“We created an initiative that stimulates Bulgarian corporative business and producers to make donations of food products. The campaign is fully transparent and the products reach families in need directly. When we announced our idea people were telling us we would not succeed. A number of organizations and municipalities did not want to provide us with a list of families in unequal social condition. They wanted to be mediators. We did not want to play this game and that is why we launched a campaign in social networks and turned to renowned Bulgarian sportsmen, artists, musicians. Among them were gymnast Yordan Yovchev, singer Beloslava and others. Through their support the idea quickly spread all across Bulgaria.”

© Photo: www.holidayheroes.bg

Not only companies but ordinary people too can make donations through sending a short massage DMS GEROI to 17 777. Renowned people part of the campaign will personally bring food products to families in need. Pop singer Toni is one of the most active holiday heroes. Her new song Love became the anthem of the campaign. All donations go for buying food and everything is completely transparent, Roro says and adds.

“We recorded on camera each visit and published the videos in social networks. We showed live how volunteers prepare the packages of food in a warehouse in Kostinbrod. People saw where their money went.”
A special telephone line was also opened so volunteers could receive signals about people in need. However, even campaigns like “Holiday Heroes” encounter problems.

“There is no law in Bulgaria that stops donations being taxed with VAT. In Bulgaria it easier for producers to throw out quality food than to give it as donation. Because when a producer decides to make a donation of half a kilo of cheese, they will have to pay 20 percent VAT on it. This law must be changed. We constantly speak about this problem and we are to organize a conference in January dedicated to the issue.” 

English version: Alexander Markov