The Worthy Bulgarians initiative of 24 Chassa daily has been telling us in the past 16 years inspiring stories of ordinary Bulgarians with extraordinary deeds. The worthy Bulgarians help poor, ill and lonely people, rescue people in fires and floods, donate money, show bravery and defend just causes. These remarkable personalities make us feel proud Bulgarians.

Many people employed at the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior are among the nominees in this year’s edition of the initiative. One of them is the Director of Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior in Veliko Tarnovo Dimitar Mashov who has been holding in the past two years an active campaign against phone frauds. Gendarme Plamen Petrov from Varna is another worthy Bulgarian. While on holiday he detained a person who took 2,000 Leva (EUR 1,000) from an elderly woman from the town of Novi Pazar who became a victim of telephone fraud. Junior Inspector Ventsislav Spassov and Senior Fireman Zapryan Piperov from the town of Septemvri rescued ten Bulgarian children who got lost in the forests over the village of Varvara. They crossed the local raging river carrying the children on their backs. Volunteers Tihomir Veselinov, Georgi Ivanov and Milen Milev are also among this year’s Worthy Bulgarians. They rescued thirty elderly men and women with dementia from a fire that broke out in the health service in the village of Ovcha Mogila.

There was a large group of children at the ceremony who gave us a lesson of humanity. Teachers and classmates of twelve year-old Lyubcho from Sofia who is suffering from cerebral paralysis raised money during the first day of school and bough Lyubcho an electric power wheelchair. They donated money for Lyubcho’s cause, instead of buying flowers for the first day of school. The children from the village of Davidkovo received the Worthy Bulgarians award for raising money for shoes of two teenagers (Mitko and his sister) who are taking care of their ill parents. Thus, Mitko went back to school.

Velichko Donkov who lives at the home for children deprived of parental care in Stara Zagora is another hero of the initiative. He found a handbag with money and documents in a local retail shop and without any hesitation gave it back to its owner.

Father Andon Shavulev, the only Bulgarian priest practicing boxing, is also among the award winners of this year’s edition of the Worthy Bulgarians. He was awarded for working with young people and teaching them in the spirit of humanity, faith and sportsmanship.

Doctors Sibila Marinova and Vanya Lachezarova from the town of Veliko Tarnovo who held a campaign aimed at promoting organ donation and who turned the hospital in Veliko Tarnovo into a pioneer in the country’s donor bases. They touched the audience with the story of a nine year-old boy who got a second chance for life thanks to the heart of a six-year-old child who died in an accident. The boy with the transplanted heart said after the surgery: When people die they go to God who does not need their organs. However, we do need them!

People who contributed to the popularization of one of the biggest and brightest achievements in the Bulgarian history also placed among the Worthy Bulgarians. A special award was given to Israeli lawyer Moshe Aloni who nominated the Bulgarian Orthodox Church for the Nobel Peace Prize for saving nearly 50,000 Jews from certain death during WW2. The main restorer of the Saint Stephen church in Istanbul (also known as the Bulgarian Iron Church) Fikriye Bulunmaz also received an award at the ceremony for making the Bulgarian Iron Church shine in all its splendor again.

Journalist Boyka Atanasova, a correspondent of 24 Chassa daily in Greece, received an award for helping Bulgarian Ivo Bogdanov, who was serving an unfair sentence in a Greek prison for non-existent murder, go free. The team of Small Stories program broadcast on the Bulgarian National Television received an award for telling the stories of the ordinary people in Bulgaria.

Valiant, selfless, honest and compassionate-these are the people who placed among the laureates of the Worthy Bulgarians initiative. Their example is exciting, and inspiring. This is indeed the main purpose of the campaign- to give publicity to good in our life.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov