(8 Mar) International Women’s Day with Valentino Chocolatier (+GAL)

Posted in News and Events. Written by Grant Dale on March 8th, 2023

Our presenters came prepared with gifts of sweet treats for all the women in the meeting on that special day! The meeting started with congratulations on the International Women’s Day (IWD). The President then recounted some historical data about the IWD and said a few words about 3rd of March – the Bulgarian National Holiday.

An announcement followed about the completion of a mission. The collected amount for the violin for the talented Diana Chausheva has come to its end. The violin is purchased, and the violin was handed over to Diana. She thanked all the Rotarians and congratulated all the Bulgarians by playing the national anthem of Bulgaria with the new violin. President Rumen played a recording of the performance on the screen. Well done Rotary, congratulations Diana!

The President once again reminded the gathering about the pilot project named – “Do not annoy me” organized by the President of our Rotaract club Nevena Ivanova and RAC Sofia Vitosha Izgrev. The project is supported by the children’s advocacy and support center Zona za Krila at the Animus Foundation and aims to help students deal with verbal bullying and the difficult situations in which life puts them.

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Lectures and workshops – 12.03.2023, 12h00 -16h00
Where: Conference hall “Gallery” at the Nationalen Studentski Dom
Facebook: https://fb.me/e/2HZbS2Lyu
Registration here 

An update was given on the current status of the project for the Bulgarian Field Hockey Federation, Special Olympics and the ID Team.

The trainings are now every week on Monday and Tuesday 16h00 at Atrim Arena Hall in Plovdiv. Our club appeared as partner on the website of the Bulgarian Field Hockey Federation. On 12.03.2023 there will be the XVIII State Hockey Championship for juniors up to the age of 18 in Rudozem. The ID Team will have a demonstration match. We are still expecting feedback about the funding of the project by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

In order to make the cause more popular it was announced that a press conference will be held on 9 March at 11h00 in Bulgaria press club with the participation of Special Olympics Bulgaria, the BFHF, RC Sofia International together with the coaches and players from the Special Olympics field hockey team.

The topic of the press conference is: “Hockey development projects for people in a disadvantaged position in our country and the program for the preparation of the Bulgarian hockey team for participation in the World Games, Berlin 2023”. Our President will participate at the press conference.

Our press release for the conference will be:

Rotary Club Sofia International supports projects for people with disabilities. Four years ago, we founded a sitting volleyball club for people with disabilities – “Sofia Owls”, we provided a training hall, coaches and support for players, but the pandemic thwarted the endeavour. We decided to redirect the collected funds to create a team for children with mental disabilities at the Bulgarian Field Hockey Federation. The President of the federation is our past President – Dr. Jörg Schenk. At the beginning of the year, we supported the project to not stop the process and to continue the trainings until additional funds are secured. Rotary Club Sofia International will continue to support the project and will be happy to see the children as participants in the Special Olympics in June this year.

At the end of the meeting our guest speakers from Valentino Chocolatier – Veselina Yordanova and her husband Nikolay Yordanov revealed to the participants the secrets of handmade Belgian chocolate and gave us the opportunity to taste the perfection of Belgian chocolate art. All women present, received a small gift bag with Belgian chocolate for the International Women’s Day. The Chocolates were amazing, and you can find them in the shop: https://shop.luxbonbon.com/

The fellowship continued in the sweet atmosphere of Belgian chocolate in hotel Hilton.