As we all know, because of the need for physical isolation during the Covid 19 health crisis, the schools conducted distance learning. In Bulgaria a lot of children didn't have the necessary equipment to "attend" the learning process. That's why the Dimitar Berbatov Foundation (DBF) launched a donation campaign to purchase laptops for students. We would like as few children as possible to be deprived from access to training in times of future quarantine situations. GlobalGiving (GG) approved the project of DBF "Every child - "in class" http://goto.gg/47581, giving us the opportunity in a short time to raise a minimum of 5000 USD from a minimum of 40 individual donors. On June 8, DBF declared the campaign open, and in order to be successful, it had to end on June 26.
To disseminate the information, DBF uses its website as well as its social media channels, which are popular with thousands of students, parents and teachers. Thus, this information reached the potential beneficiaries. The donors, for their part, responded mainly after posts on Dimitar Berbatov's personal Facebook and Instagram profiles. DBF promised if the campagne is raising the amount within the specified period, the foundation will give another 5,000 USD from its budget to purchase more devices (laptops with licensed software, so that students can not only surf, but also create content and to improve their computer skills). Potential applicants were informed that the donation will be under condition - at the end of the school year 20/21, they must tell what the effect of the donation was. On June 27, we announced that the goal had been achieved: we had received donations a little bit above 5000 USD from 45 donors, and that together with its supplement, the DBF would be able to purchase about 20 laptops. The successful campaign made DBF a recognized partner of GG. We are grateful to each donor individually for the support, given to the children and to us!
On July 13, we announced the criteria for selection of beneficiaries: students from 7th to 12th grade in state or municipal Bulgarian schools. Among the main requirements, in addition to the family income, were the success in school and absences in the previous school year, a recommendation from the school and a personally written cover letter (why he/she thinks he/she should be choosen to receive a laptop, how the donation will affect his development and how it will help his family. DBF developed application forms, anyone could download and DBF gave a deadline for receiving the package of documents by the end of August (https://bit.ly/3j0mb77)
Meanwhile, the DBF has begun negotiations with donors to provide as many devices as possible, with the best possible balance between price and quality. DBF has always been strong in attracting partners to its good deeds. In this case, we found it in the person of Lenovo - Bulgaria: we agreed that at a value of just over 10,000 USD, we will buy not 15, not 20, but 43 devices! And separately, the company will donate another 10. So 53 children (or more, because the project remains open) will receive their brand new Lenovo V15 with a licensed Windows Pro. However, the deadline had to be compromised - the laptops could not be delivered at the beginning of the school year (September 15 in Bulgaria), the company promised to be available in mid-November. DBF decided that the quantity was worth the wait.
We received hundreds of requests… The applications were strictly considered, precisely and multilaterally assessed and on September 11 - according to the promise of the DBF, the names of the beneficiaries (with their prior consent) were announced: https://bit.ly/2GNJQJ7 Each of them received a personal email with congratulations, as and with a personal voucher. The children were ranked until the last application received, but only the first 53 (according to the overall assessment of the criteria) received emails .
And so - the amount is available in the account of DBF and awaits the delivery of the devices by Lenovo - Bulgaria to be paid. Currently, DBF is looking for good conditions from a courier company to deliver the devices to the addresses of children from all over the country. In this sense, this report is interim and will be completed after handing the laptops to the students. Which we will gladly do.
While the project is open for donations http://goto.gg/47581, if possible DFB will buy a laptop for 54 in the list of rankings, and so on. As soon as the project is finalized (with deliveries), we will upload additional information. Subsequently, we will inform what was the benefit (children's results) when children report their work at the end of the school year (summer 2021).
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