Project on Helsinki shop in Vidin (2019-present)

The project is financed by Helsinki Deaconess Institute and Emmaus Helsinki and managed by NGO Organization Drom from Vidin, Bulgaria. NGO Organization Drom followed the Emmaus model to establish a second-hand shop in Vidin. In late February 2019 and early March 2019, the international partners from Helsinki, Finland, visited Vidin to support the preparatory work for the shop. NGO Organization Drom rented a shop (around 130 m2) in an excellent location, right across large hypermarket in Vidin. The international partner donates clothes and other items.

On May 9^th, 2019, the official launch of the shop took place in the presence of two Ambassadors (Finish and Swedish) and representatives of the local administration and media.

More information: http://drom-vidin.org/drom/?q=en/news

The team at NGO Organization Drom designed the new logo and named the store “Helsinki”. The registration documents, after 2 months of application, for economic activity, run by NGO Organization Drom, were issued shortly before May 9^th. Therefore, the shop started to operate right after its official launch. All necessary documentations and requirements (e.g. labor medicine fee, cash register, stands and hangers, and many other mandatory requirements) were purchased and the regulations were followed strictly.

Helsinki Shop faces a hypermarket and it is next to a famous pharmacy chain in Vidin

The team continuously thinks how to improve the shop visibility and operation activities. Since 2019, we had several donation campaigns to serve the community of vulnerable groups in the District of Vidin. We purchased textbooks/notebooks for 150 Roma children in high school from impoverished background from the Roma Neighborhood in Vidin. We donated clothes for 450 children in consecutive campaigns during the year through contacts with the Bulgarian Red Cross, The Social Center for Children in Belogradchik, the Day Center in Vidin and Lion’s club in Vidin, which served children also from Archar and Dunavtzi – neighboring cities to Vidin. We served 100 elderly people by providing clothes for the House for elderly people with handicaps in Daleina and Kutovo – villages near the city of Vidin. We also served 30 beggars in Vidin who received clothes for the winter. Altogether, we served 730 people from impoverished backgrounds.