SOS Children's Villages International

On June 23, the International Day of SOS Children's Villages is being celebrated. This is the birth date of Hermann Gmainer (1919- 1986), the founder of the project "SOS Children's Villages". The day has been celebrated since 1987. The SOS Kinderdorf program originated in Austria in 1949. After the devastating war in which thousands of men lost their lives on the front, many women become widows and even more children become orphans. The Austrian humanist physician, Dr. Hermann Giner comes up with a simple but brilliant idea - he decides to offer each of them something - to women - children to realize the inner motherhood they carry within themselves and to the children - home, security and parenthood in the face of SOS-mother - mother in help in distress. The first SOS children's village was built in Imst, Austria, and later the model is being moved to Germany and other European countries. The Association SOS Children's Villages Bulgaria is part of the large international family SOS Children's Villages International, which takes care of nearly 1,000,000 children in 134 countries around the world. In Bulgaria, the Association starts its activity in 1990. It is the first civil rights organization in the country that provides direct care for children at risk. For the first time since the democratic changes, the Association offers an alternative to the institutional care services for children - care in the SOS family. Its activity is concentrated in two locations, where the program SOS Children's Village is implemented. The first location covers Sofia - Pernik and the second - Veliko Tarnovo - Gabrovo - Tryavna. (Source: sosbg.org)