27 March 2020
On 13 March, the first day of the state of emergency in Bulgaria, we, BCause Foundation, initiated an active campaign under the motto “COVID-19 is the reason for our physical separation but it also brought us closer socially than we’ve ever been”. In this extreme situation we carry on doing what we do best – connecting donors and causes and providing donor mechanisms. We also redirected part of our team to work consistently on providing donor means, vital to the hospitals.
We started at PLATFORMATA https://www.platformata.bg/en/ - a website for online donations, created by BCause Foundation.
Together with #Forthegood Project we announced a campaign for meeting the urgent needs during the crisis COVID-19 in Bulgaria.. Together with raising money we manage to use them immediately so as to cover urgent needs of the hospitals in Sofia and throughout the country for protection of the medics and preparation of the hospital wards to face the crisis: personal protective means and consumables, medical respiratory equipment, other related equipment and supplies for hospital wards.
In order to adequately meet urgent needs, we support regular two-fold communication and coordination with the National Emergency Headquarters along with directors of the biggest hospitals in Sofia.
For two weeks the donation campaign, initiated by BCause Foundation, managed to collect a total amount of 878 466 leva.
Our campaign was supported by more than 1500 private donors and dozens of companies.
Several companies activated online donations for their employees through Platformata.bg and started campaigns, which doubled the people’s personal donations.
Since the beginning of the joint campaign by #Forthegood Project and BCause 558 466 leva were donated:
- Main campaign #Forthegood against COVID-19 in Bulgaria - 307 363 leva.
- Campaign by Chaos Group: Chaos Group Supports #Forthegood against Cogid-19 in Bulgaria - 222 360 leva
- Let’s help the hospitals (and shave Alex) – 3 443 leva
Furthermore, several hospitals and companies throughout the country started their campaigns, supported by BCause Foundation.
A regional campaign, initiated by ZARA: #Forthegood STARA ZAGORA against COVID-19 - 25 300 leva
A corporate programme by Philip Morris Bulgaria for the prevention and the treatment of COVID-19 in the country – 320 000 leva, donated for protective masks and drugs.
Companies, which made donations above 10 000 leva: Chaos Group, Philip Morris Bulgaria, Ubisoft, CheckoutX, Dreamix, Zara Petrol Company, Karoll Knowledge Foundation.
Employees, donating with the support of their employer: A1, CityBank, Management Financial Group, Chaos Group, VMWare, Experian, Zara
Non-financial donations: Bultex, Olympus, Spark
The employees at the German Embassy in Sofia also donated to the #Forthegood campaign. They made a special video as a thank-you token to all who work tirelessly day and night in helping Bulgaria combat the crisis. His Excellency, mr. Christoph Eichhorn, ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, takes part in the video.
Dozens of people and companies have worked for the campaign as volunteers. Participants in the initiative group developed models of protective helmets and started producing them, using 3D printers. Tuplex EOOD, Bulged Ltd., TechnoLogica have also contributed with freee-of-charge production. The initiative spread throughout the entire country.
THE EXPENSES or what the donations are used for:
Spent by 27 March: 495 448 leva.
Map of the towns, where the donations have been sent, can be seen at BCause Foundation website.
We bought 10 ventilators and other equipment, we delivered protective supplies to over 60 hospitals and NGOs, taking care of elderly people throughout the country.
The hospitals, to which we sent ventilators, are:
2 ventilators for the University Multiprofile Hospital for Active Treatment and Emergency Medicine "N.I.Pirogov"
1 ventilator for the Isolation Ward at the UMHAT St George in Plovdiv
2 ventilators for the Multiptofile Hospital for active treatment of pulmonary diseases "St. Sofia", Third Clinic for Pulmonary Diseases, Sofia
2 ventilators for Multiprofile Hospital for Active Treatment “Prof. Stoyan Kirkovic”, Stara Zagora
1 ventilator for the UMHAT Pleven
1 Ventilator for the MHAT St. Anna - Sofia
1 ventilator for the MHAT “Sveta Petka” Vidin
For the UMHAT Tsaritsa Yoanna-ISUL have been bought: 1 electrocardiograph CARDIOVIT AT-102 G2 SCHILLER, Switzerland, infusion pumps -10, medical monitors
#Forthegood Report for the day:
Until now we have helped 73 hospitals and social organizations with more that 190 deliveries:
Summary of the donations until now:
Medical equipment
10 ventilators
5 monitors
5 infusion pumps
1 electrocardiograph
Protective wear and consumables:
8000 masks
2444 protective wear
145 000 gloves
797 goggles
550 white coats
17 590 overshoes
50 nasal catheters
10 special protective overalls for the Fire Department
10 special gloves for the Fire Department
33 litres disinfectant spray
10 litres spirit
Donated by the production of Tuplex EOOD and Bulged Ltd. – 2000 protective helemts.
At the moment we have requests from 120 hospitals, which are yet to be met. Most of them are for masks, protective wear, goggles, helmets, disinfectant spray, quick tests.
Apart from that, we have redirected 16 725 54 leva from other funds and donations projects, in connection to the crisis:
6000 leva to the National Network of Health Mediators for their work towards the circumscription of the spread of COVID-19. The money is a crisis-related funding from the “We Can”Fund at BCause Foundation.
7 525.54 leva to UMHAT “Aleksandrovska” – for consumables and protective wear from the “Amusing Summer, Attentive Autumn” project, financed by Philip Morris Bulgaria.
3 200 leva to UMHAT Vratsa for supplying of a specialized COVID-19 ward in the hospital.
The Rinker Center at BCause Foundation took part in a discussion for the repercussions on the small business in Bulgaria as well ideas which might help.
Other campaigns in PLATFORMATA.BG, linked to COVID-19
A regional campaign of Lions Club “Mirror”in support of UMHAT “Dr. G.Stranski” EAD, Pleven: United for Pleven against COVID-19
BABA Residence transformed their campaign into a crisis one, focusing on the urgent needs of old people from the country. The money, already raised, along with new donations, will be sent to the villages for medicines, disinfection sprays and food.
Reach Out against COVID-19 – an initiative by “You can come, too” Foundation in support of lonely, sick, elderly, people with disabilities, poor people.
DMS campaigns, linked to COVID-19
On 26 March a national donation campaign was announced by the Ministry of Health at #DMSbg in support of the medics, working in the COVID-19 environment. The goal is to collect 5 million leva for equipment and protective wear. You can text DMS SOLIDARNOST to 17777 and donate online at DMSbg.com
#DMSbg is mutually governed by the Bulgarian Donation Forum and BCause Foundation.
BCause Foundation keeps on, even from a distance, but ceaselessly supporting all donors in their effort to help, and thanks its old and new volunteers and donors.
We will deal with this together, take care of yourselves, stay healthy!
