This year’s jubilee tenth edition of the charity campaign “Every Kuna Counts/ Svaka kuna se računa” exceeded all expectations. A record amount of HRK 164,761.28 was collected for the “Brački pupoljci” Parents’ Association of Children with Disabilities. In other words, the tips left for waiters in over 120 catering facilities on the island of Brač in one day, as well as direct donations to the account, will enable these children of Brač to receive more than 800 hours of much-needed therapies for their development and progress.
The campaign was first held in 2012 and was organized by the Brač Red Cross, and so far, it has collected over 650 thousand kuna for Brački pupoljci. In the first year, only restaurateurs from Supetar took part in it, and later this humanitarian gesture spread to other places of our largest Dalmatian island. The campaign was modelled after similar charity campaigns in the United States and has since developed into one of the most famous and longest-running local events on the island of Brač. Our team has provided communication support to the “Brački pupoljci” Association on several occasions. The “This truly matters” campaign in 2019 began with the story of the children of Brač, but it also initiated a discussion about the rights of the most vulnerable groups of society and made the new Act introduce a free ferry for neglected categories of passengers with disabilities from all Croatian islands. Two years later, two mountaineers from Brač, Ranko Dragičević and Daniel Lončar, carried out a noble initiative called “1100 kilometers for 1100 therapies” in order to ensure the stability of the Association’s work, providing them with almost 1700 therapies. The successful action was also translated into the book „Srcem kroz planine“, and a part of the proceeds was again set aside for the Parents’ Association of Children with Disabilities of Brač.
– The people of Brač always show how big a heart they have. This is especially evident through the actions with which we continuously help our Pupoljci. We have waived tips for them, we have changed the laws for them and climbed all Croatian mountains, all so that the children from our island can get the care they need – said Mate Mladina, director of the Red Cross of Brač, who is a restaurateur himself.
Thanks to the persistence of the big-hearted people in raising funds, 68 island children have been provided with extremely important therapies with speech therapists, physiotherapists, sensory therapists, ortho-pedagogues and psychologists. In order to make services such as early intervention, psychosocial support and assistance in inclusion in educational programs available to the young islanders without traveling to the mainland, the final goal of the “Brački pupoljci” Parents’ Association of Children with Disabilities is to open the Juraj Bonači Education Centre on the island of Brač. – We are overjoyed because the people of Brač, as well as many other visitors to our island, have once again shown how big a heart they have. The results of this year’s action exceeded all our expectations, 164,761 kuna translated into the Brački pupoljci “currency” means over 800 hours of therapy for our little friends. Thank you to everyone who responded to this campaign, on our behalf and on behalf of all parents involved in the work of the association. Also, thank you to all the caterers and their workers, HNK Hajduk and others who participated in the campaign. The account is closed as of today and we kindly ask people not to pay any more money – said Mate Mladina.
