October 12th, 2022 - posted in Activities, Galleries, Meeting, News and Events, Service support.
Rotary Club – Up to Date lecture by Mrs. Elitza Stoilova was the main focus of the regular meeting held on 12 October 2022 in Hilton Sofia. The meeting started with welcoming words of the President and introduction of the guests and guest speaker – Mrs. Elitza Stoilova, member of Rotary Club Sofia Center and Chair of Public Relations and Public Image Committee.
The meeting then continued with announcement about the Assembly of Interact in Sozopol. Followed by an update on the MED-Bul project, namely the donation of a medical bag with first aid equipment (total amount of 1122 BGN) from our member Mrs. Svetlana Foteva and her husband Mr. Milen Fotev and their company “Turmed Services”. It is planned to be be handed over on 18.10.2022 to the Pediatric Hospital in Sofia “Prof. Dr. Ivan Mitev”.
Ms. Ani Hristova, Mr. Konstatin Yordanov and Mr. Rumen Rusinov have visited a meeting of Rotary Club Sofia and Konstantin shared his impressions from the meeting and the guest lecturer.
Then it was announced that the meeting on 26 October2022 will be held at Forest Restaurant in Sofia. It will be a joint meeting of all Rotary clubs from Sofia.
The highlight of the meeting was the presentation from our lecturer for the evening – Mrs. Elitza Stoilova, who was also a guest speaker last year in our club. The theme of the lecture was “Rotary Club – UIp to Date”. A very interesting topic about the image of Rotary, how we show our self in public, how important it is to show that we are people of action in our everyday life and in our club activities. She talked about the way we inform people of what we plan to do, what we have done and to follow up what happened after that and to inform later on about the impact of our actions. She emphasized how important it is to be up to date, to be modern, to use the new technologies and different channels for communication like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and Podcasts and to think about Rotary as a business.
Our guest speaker for 19.10.2022 is Ms. Radina Moskova from Rotaract Club Sofia International, she will be sharing her moments from the Conference in Ireland, where she took part.
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October 10th, 2022 - posted in Activities, Galleries, Guest Speakers, Meeting, News and Events, Visits to clubs.
Visit to Rotary Club Sofa on 10 Oct by club members Ms. Ani Hristova, Past President, Mr. Rumen Rusinov, President and Mr. Konstantin Yordanov. Rotary Club Sofia is the oldest club in Bulgaria. The regular meeting was held at their meeting place – Downtown Hotel. Our hosts welcomed us warmly and we discussed future ideas for projects. Special thanks to Mr. Christo Mihaylovski for his invitation and hospitality.
Special guest of the meeting was Mr. Velizar Shalamanov – Minister of Defence of Bulgaria in 2014. He shared his views on the situation in Ukraine and the outbreak of the war as well as his understanding for NATO’s and Bulgaria’s position. After the lecture a discussion was opened and many questions were raised.
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October 8th, 2022 - posted in D2482, Galleries, Meeting, News and Events.
Preliminary training seminar for Elect Presidents was held on 8 October in the city of Panagurishte. Mr. Stoian Stanchev, President of Rotary Club Panagurishte opened the seminar and welcomed the guests. The District Governor Mrs. Violina Kostova and District Governor Elect Mr. Christo Mihailovsky also welcomed the participants and presented themselves.
Lectures presented were by Mrs, Nina Miteva – “Rotary International Priorities”, by Mrs. Maria Djaleva – “Successful Planning of Rotary Club Activities”, by Mrs. Ekaterina Vadadjiska – “How to Maintain and Develop a Vibrant Club – Membership and Projects” and “Rotaract, Interact – Sustainable Partnerships”, by Mrs. Elitsa Stoilova “Rotary up to Date” and last but not least by Mr. Mihailovsky – “The Demographic Crisis in Bulgaria – Threats and Opportunities for Change”.
The atmosphere and the discussions was pleasant and constructive.
Ms. Ani Hristova, Past President of our Rotary Club Sofia International was there.
We wish to the new Presidents successful years in their mandate.
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October 5th, 2022 - posted in News and Events.
Oktoberfest proceeds were announced during the regular meeting on 5 October 2022 at Hilton Sofia. The two donation boxes from the Oktoberfest event were opened and the collected amount counted. The boxes contained 346,60 BGN. After announcing the amount our friend Mrs. Linda Kim donated another 153.40 BGN to round them up to 500 BGN. Our appreciation goes to the organizers of the Oktoberfest– DB Events, to all donators for their contribution to help with the delivery of medical equipment donation for Bulgaria.
The meeting started with a presentation of the 2022/23 Rotary Presidential theme and logo – Imagine Rotary. This year the emphasis will be on togetherness, doing things together. To hold club meetings together with other Rotary clubs and to have common projects.
The meeting continued with internal affairs announcements. Few invitations by Rotary clubs were announced, one of them the invitation from Association “Children with Oncohematologic Diseases” for celebration of two years since the official opening of the daily center in the village of Optsvet. Our club has donated a new van for the association in 2016. Members of the club will participate at the event.
After the official end of the meeting, the fellowship followed in the meeting room of the hotel Hilton.
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September 28th, 2022 - posted in Galleries, Meeting, News and Events.
We had the pleasure to meet in person and online after the long summer period. The first official meeting was long awaited and altogether 13 club members met at Hilton Sofia hotel.
The meeting started with welcoming words by Mrs. Elena Vassileva, Secretary of our Club, who was substituting Mr. Rumen Russinov.
A presentation followed about the activities, during the summer months – news, internal affairs, activities, and projects completed.
Presentation slides with memories from the informal summer meetings were shown as well as some activities during the summer period like the donation of cloths for young ladies to Louis Braille School and the visits and exchange of flags with foreign Rotary representatives, the District Governor of Serbia Mr. Nikola Bozic, District 2483, Rotary Club Blouberg District 9350 Capetown South Africa presented by the Honorary consul of Bulgaria in South Africa Mr. Boris Vasilev and the Rotary Club of Carol Stream Illinois, USA, represented by Mr. Adams and his Mrs. Vania Adams.
The presentation continued with the introduction of the new board members, Secretary and President for this Rotary year as well as the Strategic plan, the themes and visions for 2022/2023. At the end the plan for regular meetings was presented and members were invited to book dates for guest speakers.
The fellowship followed in the meeting room of the hotel.
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September 16th, 2022 - posted in Activities, Galleries, News and Events, Theme evenings.
Every year our club members are participating at the traditional Oktoberfest event. This year it was decided the informal summer meeting to be held at the official opening of Oktoberfest 2022 in Sofia on 16 September 2022 at the Vienna Café & Restaurant in Grand Hotel Millennium.
The organizers of the event – DB-Events promoted the collection of donations for our project – Medical Equipment Donation for Bulgaria (MED-Bul). Our donation boxes were situated at the official opening in the hotel and later on they were placed at the Oktoberfest event which will continue at the City Garden in Sofia (Gradska Gradina) until 02.10.2022.
Chef Frank Reinshagen from Germany was responsible for the traditional German delicacies. The numerous guests had the chance to taste traditional German bear, pretzel, hand-crafted wursts, traditional sides, and authentic sauces. DJ Carsten Lange also from Germany took care for the good mood with traditional German music for an Octoberfest.
The boxes contained 346.60 BGN Big thank to everyone who donated and support our cause.
Our dear member Mrs. Linda Kim donated another 153,4 BGN to round them up to 500 BGN. Thank you, Linda for your support.
We thank our friends Horst Schmidt, Horst Stüer, Ani Hristova and the organizers – DB Events for their support.
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August 28th, 2022 - posted in Galleries, News and Events, Visits to clubs.
On 27 August 2022, Rotary Club Sofia-Balkan (Bulgaria) twinned with Rotary Club Pirot (Serbia).
The District Governor of District 2483, Mr. Nikola Bozic, visited the official meeting of the club and the twinning Ceremony of the clubs from Bulgaria and Serbia. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Satellite Clubs Luznica and Remizijan. The President of Rotary Club Pirot, Mr. Dejan Manic opened the meeting, welcomed the guests, and everyone introduced themselves. We were warmly welcomed by the Past President, Mr. Vladica Tosic.
The District Governor of District 2482, Mrs. Violina Kostova sent a congratulatory address and wishes for many successful joint projects and shared long-term Rotarian friendship.
Ms. Ani Hristova, Past President of our club was at the official meeting of Rotary Club Pirot and the twinning ceremony. She presented to both Clubs a congratulatory address from Mr. Rumen Rusinov, President of our Club.
The ceremony started with the Consecration of bread by an Orthodox priest and celebrating the feast of the Great Mother of God “Velika Gospojina” (in the old style) – Rotary Club Pirot’s patron.
The highlight of the night was the new member’s acceptance, Mrs. Jivana Popovich in Satellite Club Luzhnica. The pin was presented by District Governor, Mr. Nikola Bozic and Mr. Nemanja Panich of Rotary Club Pirot, where the pin was presented to him by Ms. Ani Hristova, representative of the District Team from Bulgaria (from the team of Mrs. Hristina Malchevska of International Service Committee 2022-2023).
The dances and the friendship atmosphere were amazing. The event was a wonderful gathering, a great atmosphere, and an unforgettable evening among friends.
Rotary Club Sofia International wishes successful projects to the clubs, and keep in mind that our club will support them.
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July 21st, 2022 - posted in Activities, Donations, Galleries, News and Events, Service support.
On 21 July 2022 a donation by Rotary Club Sofia International was successfully completed. Two boxes with a number of new clothes for young ladies were donated to Louis Braille School in Sofia for the pupils. The donation was made by Mrs. Violeta Draginova to Rotary Club Sofia International. Mrs. Draginova is a friend of Mr. Plamen Lazarov, Past President and a founding member of our club. Violeta is a templar and person that loves helping others.
At the handover ceremony the President of RC Sofia International Mr. Rumen Russinov was present, as well as the Past President Mrs. Hristina Malchevska and Mr. Plamen Lazarov. The Director of the school Mrs. Belokapova kindly accepted the donation with gratitude.
Louis Braille is a School for children with impaired vision and Rotary Club Sofia International has supported it several times with different donation projects, from provision of sports equipment to support for renovation works of the school’s new daily center that will be opened soon.
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July 2nd, 2022 - posted in D2482, Galleries, Meeting, News and Events.
July is the time for transition in the Rotary calendar and on 2 July 2022 Rotary Bulgaria made the Rotary wheel turn once again for about 20 clubs at a joint handover ceremony in the Diplomatic Club in Sofia. The amazing event was the first of its kind where the Presidents of so many clubs passed the necklace on to the Presidents-Elect at the same time. The handover ceremony started with the transfer of the necklace from the Governor to the Governor-Elect and afterwards it was followed by the clubs. Many of our club members witnessed the transfer of the necklace from our President Mrs. Hristina Malchevska to our President-Elect Mr. Rumen Rusinov. It was fantastic to see so many smiling faces in a great Rotary atmosphere.
Looking back at the challenges and achievements of the past Rotarian year, we would like to express our gratitude to our Past President Mrs. Hristina Malchevska for her exemplary work and dedication. We all witnessed the huge number of realized projects and the amazing work that has been done during the past year. Some of the main projects were the Donation of medical beds for the kids hospital, the Charity Gala Concert in Sofia Opera, the Buy and Donate project, Donation for Ukrainian refugees, Donation of French discs to the French Language School in Sofia, Donation to Louis Braille School in Sofia, Donation by our Past-President Mr. Horst Stueer to the Children’s hospital in Sofia, number of MED-Bul projects, some of the projects were realized with the donations and support of Rotary Club Paris Agora, joint projects with other rotary clubs – RC Bansko-Razlog, RC Kazanlak, RC Harmanli, RC Zlatograd, RC Balkan and RC Samokov, a huge toothpaste donation, one District Grant project, the project with our Rotaract club – Rotarun and many others.
We are so proud to have so many active members, friends, Rotary clubs and organizations supporting our club’s projects and we would like to express our gratitude to them as well. We thank you all for your efforts!
For the new Rotary year 2022/2023 we have many existing and new projects, plans and ideas in our pipeline which we are looking forward to being realized. Our new president Mr. Rumen Rusinov said that he will be thankful for suggestions, ideas, advices and support in the coming year and he will rely on the support of our Secretary Mrs. Elena Vasileva and the Board as well as all members, to continue serving Rotary for good causes. Let’s wish our new president, secretary and board good luck and many successful projects as well as to continue to maintain the good friendship and club life.
The informal summer meetings will be held at the same place as last year in the Club of Architects in Sofia, at 11, Krakra Str., every Wednesday from 7 pm.
We are wishing you all a wonderful summer, full of exciting moments and nice memories and hope to see you at the informal summer meetings and afterwards at the official meetings starting 28 September 2022.
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June 22nd, 2022 - posted in Activities, Galleries, Guest Speakers, Meeting, News and Events, Service support.
Maestro Kamdzhalov was guest at a regular meeting of Rotary Club Sofia International on 22 June 2022. This was the last official meeting in Hilton Sofia for the Rotarian year 2021-2022. We had the pleasure to welcome 16 people at the meeting in the hotel and one member online.
The meeting started with welcoming words by Mrs. Hristina Malshevska. Then a short introduction of all people who were present in the meeting took part. Speech by the President followed about the current Rotarian year. She expressed her appreciation to the Board and all members for their dedication and time for realization of a number of actions to serve local communities (from the donation of French Disks to French Language School, 5 MED-Bul projects including donation of medical beds and equipment to the Children’s Hospital in Sofia, donation of medical supplies to Bansko and Razlog region, medical infusion pump donation to the Children’s Hospital again with the support of our Past President Mr. Horst Stüer, donation of medical equipment to family-type placement center for children with disabilities in Sofia, District Grant project and medical bag donation Mrs. Svetlana Foteva, donation of 800 toothpastes, Ukrainian refugees support, Buy and Donate projects, Louis Braille School repair works and others, amounting more than 130 000 BGN. Together we managed to realize also the Charity Gala Concert on 09 May 2022 with the great support of Mrs. Linda Kim, where we collected around 9 000 BGN for our future MED-Bul projects. We had 7 new members who joined the club this year. We had 24 special guests out of 27 official meetings. We had a great Octoberfest, Christmas party and Fondue night at Linda’s house. The club life was great.
Mrs. Hristina Malchevska asked to keep up the great work, be united and support Mr. Rumen Rusinov in the coming year, and have even more fun. It was an honor and privilege for her to serve local communities on this position.
Afterwards, Hristina expressed appreciation to Mr. Jörg Schenk for his great Presidency of Rotary Club Sofia International and all the precious support throughout the years. Jörg is leaving Bulgaria and going to live in Germany, so it was the last meeting he attended. The President gave a gift to him, our branded mug, as a sign of gratefulness for all his great work and service in the club.
Then Jörg gave a touching speech and promised to stay in touch and visit us when he comes to Bulgaria.
Later we watched a short video about the World-famous Maestro Kamdzhalov as an introduction and afterwards we welcomed our special guest in the room who spoke about his philosophy of life and his world view.
Maestro Kamdzhalov was born in Targovishte and studied conducting in Sofia and Berlin. He specializes in master classes of world-class conductors and has impressive performances on three continents. He spoke about his search for unity between music, philosophy and science.
“True freedom is being able to realize your potential. Freedom is realizing your own potential inside and out.”
“Where there is no risk, mediocrity is guaranteed! There is no complete predictability in risk, so there is neither complete freedom nor complete limitation. These are just states and dimensions in which one must learn to live. Virtuoso performers live there permanently.”
“It’s a walk on a rope, above the height between two skyscrapers. The people who can do this thing – it’s actually a hyper-ability,” shared Maestro Kamdzhalov.
He is a winner of a number of international competitions for conductors. In 2011 he was elected by full consensus as General Music Director and Chief Conductor of Heidelberg, and since 2018 he has been Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Croatian National Opera and Philharmonic in Rijeka – European Capital of Culture 2020. In 2014, NASA and the International Center for Astronomy named it asteroid 52292, stating that “it connects the world of music with the charm of the universe.” He is a co-founder of the Yordan Kamdzhalov Foundation, established to support young Bulgarian talents and to establish the best Bulgarian musical traditions. Founder of the Music “Laboratory for Man” with conductor Maya Vasileva, a wide civic selection of personalities with outstanding musical and vocal potential. Artistic director and chief conductor of the international Bulgarian GENESIS ORCHESTRA, which unites proven Bulgarian performers from the country, Europe and the world. Co-founder and Artistic Director of “Academia Musica”, a new educational form at the “Human Laboratory”.
Followed a number of questions to the Maestro, as well as a joint group practice of all in the room to say few words together in full synchrony and finally we took a joint photo as a memory of the great evening.
Finally, Hristina thanked to our guests and club members for joining this evening.
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