Hi Guys
Just to say we are home and all went well at the Silistra Garden Party on Sat 25th Sept 2010. We had a fantastic time and the children and all the other organisation were more than happy with all the wonderful goods we brought which of course were donated by the following wonderful companies. Gap, Next, Tesco, Nominal Ltd
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Hush Puppies, Amos, Great Gizmos, Next to Nothing in Orton, Simplywool in Scotland, Freegle and Netmum members,
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and various friend etc. All the packaging boxes were donated by Tee Kay Packaging in P’boro and the storage was donated by PC Howard Ltd in Kings Cliff So firstly thanks a million to EVERYONE for whatever support you gave us, you all did just FANTASTIC!! We really could not have done this without you guys well done!! We appreciate all your help and God willing we look forward to your help again for next year’s event!
The Delivery of the goods
The goods above, all the right hand bottom row were delivered on Saturday 18th to Bulgaria. The Director Stilian Stoichev of the Dimcho Debelianov Orphanage Silistra organised for the goods all 400+ boxes to be unloaded at the Home for the Elderly due to lack of storage space. Dougie myself and (Sevgin our friend and translator) arrived at the Home for the Elderly to find Stilian, the staff and the children and the lorry there waiting for us. Unloading was manic, boxes coming at me right left and centre until I sorted out a system everyone could follow. All our goods were colour coded for various organisations once they realised this, things then went like clockwork. The children were just amazing and really enjoyed themselves. The excitement was building rapidly as each box was unloaded and especially when they saw the amount of goods and the two huge 50lts boxes of sweets, it made their day. With all the help we had, it had taken about an hour and a half. We then had to load the 50+ boxes of goods we brought for the local villages, doctors surgery etc onto the orphanage bus and send that to our local village hall. Again the Stilian, Sergin and the children came to help with the unloading. Those goods were stored until the following day when Dougie and I invited the villagers to come and help themselves. The next day the mayor arranged for the goods to be picked up for the next villages and again was distributed. We took the Doctors Surgery a wheelchair, two walking frames and several walking sticks and some medical supplies which he was over the moon with. I thought he was about to cry at one stage when he saw the walking frames, he was well chuffed and thanks us again and again.
The goods would stay at the Home for the Elderly and the idea was that they would be picked up and taken to the Marquee on the Friday and distributed to all organisations on Saturday 25th at the Garden Party however, things changed very quickly in Bulgaria. The staff of the Home for the Elderly and sorted their goods, which I understand were logged and distributed accordingly. We never got to see what was given out or who had what, or the amount of goods distributed, we knew what was in the boxes as we packed everyone single box ourselves. They appeared to be pleased with the items. We did not get any feedback from the residents so can’t say how they feel. We were rather disappointed that neither the director nor any of his staff from the Home for the Elderly came to the Garden Party, considering the huge amount of goods they had for the second year running. Can only assume they were busy.
Tuesday 22nd setting up the Marquee
We went to the orphanage to organise the set up of the same marquee that Snowens of P’boro donated to us last year. Everyone helped as Dougie delegated. The staff soon took over and all the children were involved one way or another either holding ropes, hanging the sides, fetching table and chairs down to the marquee, blowing up balloons etc. Within 4 hours the marquee was up and ready for decorating, which the children did themselves and did a fabulous job. Everyone was getting real excited now, it was going to be like Christmas for the children in a few days – this one day of the year they are truly spoilt for choice, how fantastic!!!!
On the day
Sat 25th was a wonderful day. Dougie and I arrived at the Orphanage at 8.30. The older boys stayed in the Marquee that night as all the goods were inside and they were worried about them going missing so they had a night out camping, which they loved. Within a few minutes or our arrival things started to move and the Director Stilian delegated and all the staff and children at the Dimcho were just fabulous, suddenly it was a real hive of activity with everyone having their own jobs to do.
The various activities
I went shopping with the director to collect the bread and the salad good etc. Dougie and some staff members and the older boys set about setting up the new trampoline and the pool/games tables etc. The children were so excited they could hardly wait to get on the trampoline. Our volunteers Caran and Mike were the 1st to arrive and we already agreed that they would manage our book stall. They set to work and did absolutely fantastic!! Thanks guys. Then Jerry and Katya arrived and set about setting up the tombola, raffle and guess the weight of cake and sweets stalls. Debs baked a lovely cake and arrived later to manage the cake and a sweet jar Dougie filled. Thanks a million you all did great!!
The marquee was decorated with flowers and we wanted the lovely multi coloured hand knitted blankets to be on show so they were hung up inside around the marquee. Games were set out everywhere so the children and visitors could play. Bill &
Sue arrived with his disco and set up. Then Bobby, Rosie, Nick and Marusia of Trust Radio Europe
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] arrived. They had a 5 hour journey to get to us as did Cindy, Don and their colleagues at
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Thanks a million guys you all did brilliantly!!
George at British Lion Foods arrived with the sausages and the sauces he donated to us, they were fantastic and everybody loved them. Thank you George you did fantastic! Dave Bambury
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] the photographer came and gladly donated his skills as photographer for the day, to which we have some lovely photos, thanks Dave!! They were all just wonderful to come all that way to help and support us – Thanks a million times over guys, you all did a super job and the children were overwhelmed at all the activity and attention from everyone.
The Music
The children had prepared a singing and dancing programme for us and it was just wonderful. They put a lot of time and effort into it and also two of the older children did a modern dance routine too – it was lovely and everyone enjoyed the show. Well done to the children they did fantastic!!!
Mike, Bobby and Krasi were our musicians who also donated their time and skills to us. They were all brilliant, everyone loved them. Our only regret was that they performed later in the day it would have been good to go on directly after the children performance. Still, we know better next year and I will do an entertainment programme and start earlier. Thanks a million guys you all did fantastic!!!
Bill was happy with his disco and set up inside the marquee. He managed to find time to have a little dancing session for the children, which they loved. Trust Radio Europe set up outside the marquee. We had no Y5 to go live on the internet but we improvised by using the karaoke machine with the microphones we brought over for the children. They made sure there was music all day long and announcements and requests etc, it was fantastic and the atmosphere was electric. The recordings were broadcasted the following Monday. Darren and Denise of Quest magazine also came and did a write up in
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Thanks guys you did fantastic!!
The director of the Baby Orphanage (above) Dr Tanya Stoykova was on annual leave, but she still came and brought a translator and two children. She was delighted with the 100+ boxes and could not thank us enough for all our efforts. She stayed most of the day. The Baby Orphanage has more than enough goods now to last them for a few years.
Svetla and the deputy director of the Kaspichan Orphanage arrived in their van. They picked up around 20 boxes but did not stay for the events. The Refuge Centre did not turn up, nor did they make contact so they never did receive the goods. However, due to storage space we had to move them, so when we asked Stilian our director, about the Disability Day Centre, He made a phone call and arranged for a visit Monday and the goods were delivered there Tuesday. They were very happy with the goods and said to say thank you to everyone for such unexpected wonderful gifts.
Fund raised
Dougie, Rick, Elly, Emma myself and a few more volunteers and donors helped us all year with bag packing, books sales, knitting
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] etc and we raised the funds for the transport. Anything over that amount would go towards the renovations at the orphanage. We paid the transport cost of £1151. We had £1000 to donate to Silistra Orphanage which was a total surprise to the director Stilian, he was delighted..
We raised a total of 648lev on the day, a fantastic amount considering we only had about 30 British couples. European shop owner - Cordula came from Spasovo and sold some of her lovely cakes and also made a donation. Mike &
Jerry Black donated a weekend break at the Pelican Guest House in Srebarna http://srebarnabirding.com/">http://srebarnabirding.com/</a><!-- m -->. This was auctioned off throughout the next week by Trust Radio Europe. The winner was Mr David Kennedy from Spain http://kennedyfinancialservices.com/ with his bid of 604lev which was fantastic!!. Thank you all for your donations and support. In total we raised around £1600 give or take a few pounds allowing for exchange rates etc. As you can imagine the director Stilian is overwhelmed and he asked me to say a huge thanks to ‘everyone in the UK and Bulgaria for all your support’. He also confirmed that the funds raised will go towards building a large room from wood for the children to use as their recreation room. Work will commence mid Oct and he will be sending photos. Bill our web designer will be reconstructing our website so we can accommodate all the new pictures in due course. Thanks Bill you are a star!.
Distributing the goods was fantastic.
There was so much stuff we only manage to get some of the boxes opened. The children were spoilt for choice and I do mean spoilt – it was brilliant to see them with all those lovely clothes, shoes toys etc. It was just like Christmas. Everything in the orphanage is shared and even thought we gave the goods out, they will be taken back and divided equally and the toys will be shared with everyone. The director Stilian is very fair and no one child gets more than any other, which is great. Any goods they cannot use will be given to other community organisations as agreed with the director.
This year we filled 120 shoeboxes for the Dimcho and 55 for Kaspichan Orphanage they will be given to the children on Christmas morning, again we will have photos send and they will be put on our website. We only wish we could be there this year to hand them out and see their faces, but with work commitments it is difficult plus being realistic, it would be far to cold then.
Finally as we have said, we have found the Disability Day Centre in Silista and next year we aim to take them some goods. We have heard of another orphanage from one of our guest at the Garden party that is in a very bad way – We have been donated British Lion Food vouchers from a lovely lady in the UK Brenda Heaven who won them whiles in Bulgaria. I will be contacting George and ask him to send the value of them to this new orphanage once I have the correct details. Knowing George, I am sure he will add a few more items too.
We would like to thanks everyone here in the UK, all our sponsors/donors for all their continual support and to all our new donors and especially to Boris at Nominal Ltd who is still the only Bulgaria Company that has supported us financially. Alex the camera man for Channel 1 TV has been great and even covered the event, really looking forward to seeing the film, thanks Alex. Special thanks to Sevgin Ademov who did all our translation during this trip – we rang and he was always ready to help. He was just fantastic thanks you so much you did wonderful. We will keep trying to get support especially with the ‘Gift box’ idea that is being set up in Silistra schools now. Thanks also to Ourbulgariaforum.com Ashley, Chris the members our sponsors Toby TBH Building Service. Accordia Property Sales, Sewage Solutions BG, BG Homes Trust Radio Europe and Anglo-Info, Bryan for raising funds at the Horse &
Groom Milcombe Bulgarian Night - you have all been fantastic!!. They are all now preparing for next year event already
Thanks once again to everyone for all your support and help over the last year. You have all been just fantastic!!! Dougie and I could not have done this without you. We will start again soon with preparations for next years trip – Just keep our fingers crossed that we get a donor for the transport ha-ha!! Hint hint!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Berni &
Dougie
Tue Apr 27, 2010 3:11 pm
Dougie 
:
its good to see from the photo's that everyone had a real good time especially the children, my favorite photo's are the ones with the little girl trying a new pair of shoes and another girl helping her, good luck for next year and lets see if we can make it an even better year fingers crossed on the transport so lets all see if we can help by contacting anyone that may be able to help 
