IZBERI ZHIVOT (Choose Life), a campaign in support of the young generation
November 2nd, 2007
What to tell you…this was an adventure. It all started when Christopher Violaris called me into his office and assigned Stel Violaris as a Project Manager, and me, Lili, as his right hand and assistant, to organize this charitable concert, which had to launch an ongoing campaign, aiming to persuade the young generation to do good, to become someone with value and make the best out of their life. You may ask, how Christopher Violaris decided to make this gift to the teenagers, well, it is actually very simple. As he says, “You cannot expect only to receive in life, but it is good to give back also, and who is the most rightful one to give to than the young generation, our future and hope”.
The whole organisational process consisted of contacting Agents of popular Bulgarian singers, stage owners, people dealing with video screens, the Municipality, the Mayor of Varna, the Police, Security companies, interviews with the media, TV shows, getting media partners on board, finding a DJ, salsa and kick box clubs, a music quartet, a famous football star and a popular basketball team, a hip-hop ballet, making a video film with the children from “Gavrosh”, the orphanage which we decided to help first. The video was great fun, as we took some of the boys from Gavrosh for football training and some of the girls for a salsa dance lesson. The film also included a visit to the orphanage, where all the children were excited to meet us. We prepared advertising materials, such as a huge stage back drop, posters, flyers, T-shirts, an enormous cheque, donation boxes, etc. We also bought refreshments for some of the orphans to give out during the concert. The idea of using 2 large screens was to play on one of them negative images, such as drug addicts, fights, criminals, children drinking, etc. On the other screen – positive images, such as children playing football and other sports activities, playing a music instrument, studying, singing, acting, drawing, and of course our video. However, I have to mention here, that all ideas were coming from Stel! Yes, Stel, I must admit that you’re good!!!
When Stel and I went to Sofia for interviews, together with Misho Shamara (a popular rap singer and the MC of the concert), we managed to meet Todor Stoikov, who is a great basketball player and captain of the local basketball team Lukoil. We took an interview with him, acting as real journalists. But the most exciting part of our stay was our TV appearance!!!! We took part in a show called Milen Tsvetkov’s Hour, a talk show, covering different topics and broadcasted on one of Bulgaria’s national TV channels. Everyone at the office were lined up and watched us. So there, we had our 5 minutes of glory.
We also prepared a 25 seconds video shot for the TV commercials and the same for the radio. We held a press conference, where the present media showed big interest in our initiative.
It was 3 sleepless and extremely busy weeks, but every second spent for the cause was worth it and made Stel and I feel very proud, satisfied and thankful for having the opportunity to be part of the initiative. I truly hope that there will be more and more people and companies who would stop for second and pay attention to the young generation and children in need, as they are all part of our future and the future of our heirs.
I would like to use this opportunity to say a WELL DONE to Stel and me and to thank everyone at Eurolink Investment Group, all suppliers, partners, the media and all people involved, who also helped and contributed to the success of the concert, but most of all I would like to cheer Christopher Violaris for the initiative. If only there were more people like him, the world would have been a better place!
