Mtel With "Golden Apple" Award For Foster Care

Mtel was honored with an award for its contribution to the life and welfare of Bulgarian children in the third edition of the ceremony "Golden Apple." Telecom won a special award for its project "Foster a child. Create future!” in support of foster care in Bulgaria.

In 2013, as part of the "Foster a child. Create future!” project, on which Mtel works for the second consecutive year, the telecom provides financial support to at least 200 children in foster families in Bulgaria. The financial aid amounts to 200 BGN and is provided once to the foster parents as soon as the child is placed with them. 300 BGN is the amount foreseen for a kid with a disability. Thus Mtel supports foster families in addressing the initial needs of children in order to accommodate in their new home. The foster parents themselves indicated this need in a special study the telecom held in late 2012, in order to focus its support at the most priority area for the children.

During the first edition of the project in 2012, one hundred families took an extra financial aid from Mtel. The accommodated children were aged between 2 months to 16 years. Five of the children were with disabilities, and seven families raised brothers and sisters together.

The project "Foster a child. Create future!" supports the National Strategy for "Vision for deinstitutionalization of children in Bulgaria". Partners are National Network for Children, Bulgarian Donors' Forum, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, State Agency for Child Protection.

The ceremony "Golden Apple" took place on 29 May at the Sofia Puppet Theatre. More than 30 organizations and individuals were nominated in a total of 8 categories: Journalist, Politician at local level, Politician at national level, School, Hospital, Municipality, Business organizations and Hero from the fairy tales – a category where stories of ordinary people who made something exceptional for the kids competed.