EQ actively seeks additional resources to supplement the money we receive from the state as social service providers. However, this isn’t simply a question of fundraising to enable us to improve the quality and range of activities and support we provide to children and families. We work in a way that enables members of the community to participate and to feel a sense of shared ownership of the positive results we create together.
The method behind the bazaar enables us to draw on the talents and pool the resources of multiple groups – students from Ruse schools and the city’s university, foster parents, adoptive parents and prospective adoptive parents, those who use our services, members of the artistic community and friends and members of the families of those who work for us. The event has always received tremendous public attention and, as a result, not only do we raise the extra funds that we need but we spread an understanding of the work we do and draw support for our mission.
Public awareness of the bazaar attracts donations throughout the year from families and businesses who provide the types of things we need to help people struggling to raise young children – clothing and toys, equipment for babies, furniture and household appliances.
Others provide us with the types of specialized equipment that help us do our work – rehabilitation equipment for children with special needs, computer equipment and office furniture and gifts for the kids who come to the centre for street children.
Results as of October 2015
- There have been six bazaars to date.
- Funds raised allow us to provide summer camps for those children and young adults with special needs that we care for in our family-type centres. We provide annual camps for the young clients of the centre for street children and organize spring and summer programmes for clients of the Ruse complex (during school breaks). We host numerous events drawing children from the local community, schools, kindergartens, youth groups and care facilities.
- Over and above the material donations that we can pass on to families, we are able to help with the purchase of medicines and toiletries, nappies and the cost of essential transport.
- We have bought specialized equipment for children and young adults with physical disabilities that helps provide mobility and improves the quality of their lives.
- We have created and continuously develop a regular, mixed-ability playgroup for children aged 0-4 that allows parents, foster parents and those who have adopted young children to come together with our team of specialists.
- Donations help us provide essential physiotherapy and occupational therapy for young children.