"Good always prevails and being able to change a person for the better means you have managed to change the whole world." This is the motivation that drives one of the nominees in BNR’s "Enlightener of the Year" campaign.

People often refer to Leo Kadeli as "The Albanian with a Bulgarian soul", because he has a mission to help people in this country. Leo has been living in Bulgaria for 15 years and for the past five years he has dedicated his time to the idea of finding charitable Bulgarians and uniting them with the aim to help other compatriots in need. He is the creator of a popular internet platform that has already been joined by over 80,000 people. Everyone participates according to their abilities - personal donations, voluntary work, transportation. The platform has responded to requests ranging from families for whom it was impossible to pay their household bills to people in need of wheelchairs, firewood, or just food… That is how more than 9,000 people have already received help. "For some this may seem insufficient but for those who do not have anything, it's everything," Leo says in an interview with BNR:

"We have completed over 300 major repairs to homes of people who are in dire need and we have bought a lot of furniture. Everything happens without sponsors, without advertising, but just with own labor and funds. We recently helped 97-year-old Maria from Targovishte. She was living in very difficult conditions, without a bathroom and she had never been to a restaurant in her life. When she told us this, we took her to a restaurant in the evening. She was very happy. We don't make profit and everyone helps the way they can."

The past year of hardships caused by the pandemic made people like Leo observe a new phenomenon. He noticed a change in people - they became more compassionate and started looking for a cause to invest work and free time in. The group was joined by people with different professions, including professors, politicians, school principals and many others. "We have turned into something like an institution, because we receive all kinds of signals about people in need, people on the brink of survival," he says and adds:

"The humane gesture is what is important to me. At my request a young woman recently visited a 92-year-old woman who was knitting wool slippers. I bought everything and gave it to people in need. This did not cost much, but was very helpful act. Moreover, this woman did not beg but presented her hard work with dignity."

"If I happen to win the prize, I would give it to a person in some of the most remote villages of the country, who has done something good to somebody else, even if it was giving just a loaf of bread. The one who has nothing but keeps helping others deserves the award the most," Leo Kadeli says in conclusion.

Compiled by: Gergana Mancheva /based on an interview by Diana Doncheva, BNR-"Horizont"/

English: Alexander Markov