A young farmer from the village of Byala Reka, near Parvomay, repairs out-of-use wheelchairs. Donations reach the entire country, even neighboring Serbia and North Macedonia.
32-year-old Dimitar Ivanov returns to his native village after years abroad and, in addition to livestock farming, dedicates himself to a noble cause.
For some, a wheelchair is the freedom to leave home, live a full life and see their child grow up. Ivanka lives in Debar. She worked at the local hospital until 2023, when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and had to stay home.
Moving around became unbearable for her, and as the mother of a future first-grader, she needed an expensive assistive device.
„I didn't leave the house. At most, I would go out to the road, here to the door, and then go home. I couldn't go anywhere, but when I got the stroller - I go to the store, I go to the kindergarten, the children play, and I go there to see the child. I feel very good“, says Ivanka.
„A stroller costs 2,000 euros. It's expensive, the stroller. I can't afford to buy it. Otherwise, I wouldn't go anywhere. I was just at home. And before that, I had a car, but now I don't. "When I got sick," she shares.
However, help came from an unexpected place - the nearby farm in the village of Byala Reka, where 32-year-old Dimitar Ivanov raises 150 cows. Along with taking care of the animals, he breathes new life into old wheelchairs and donates them to people in need.
„When cleaning out an old house about 7 years ago, my friend and I found two unused wheelchairs, new ones. Wondering what to do with them, we decided to announce them on social networks that we were donating them, and within a few minutes we received dozens of calls. We donated them in seconds. And so I decided to simply connect the two,” says Dimitar Ivanov, a livestock breeder and founder of the “Together for Good” foundation.
Donations from all over the country are collected in his workshop. They are repaired and sent to people in need.
Strollers are sent from all over the country, donations even arrive from Austria and Switzerland. Dimitar, who is an engineer by education, repairs them himself. So far, nearly 700 aids have been provided to people in need.
“It takes up a lot of my free time, but this is, how can I say, the emotion of people when we donate aids. This is the fuel that makes me continue to do it,” says Dimitar.
There are dozens of strollers in the workshop, but more are always accepted. Refurbished aids have reached the entire country, even as far as Serbia and North Macedonia.
„If someone has an unnecessary aid, one that they do not use, forgotten in a house, apartment, in a wardrobe or cupboard, we will gladly accept it, regardless of its condition, and we will donate it to where it is needed. And if someone also needs such an aid, they can contact us to receive it“, says Dimitar.
Not only adults need aids, but also the youngest ones.
„For several months we have been trying to specialize in aids for children, because it turned out that they are even more difficult to access and even more expensive for families with such children. There are really a lot of them in Bulgaria. And while most aids for people with disabilities, such as wheelchairs and toilet seats, are provided by the Health Insurance Fund, those for children are covered by the Health Insurance Fund in a very small percentage of cases“, he also says.
Such aids are received by Ralitsa Kotseva, who is a mother of 3 children. 6-year-old Lora was diagnosed with epileptic encephalopathy – a serious condition that requires the daily use of specialized equipment.
“Special facilities are needed, but these facilities are not accessible, because first of all, they are not provided, there is no state subsidy for this and most people rely on donations, donation campaigns, in order to be able to obtain such things“, says Ralitsa Kotseva.
“We personally benefited from a tablet, which has a table and helps me in my work with my child. We put a splint on and inside it we do various rehabilitation activities with my child. This is extremely important, because a child, for example, if we have to compare the condition of my child, my child does not have an independent seat. And in fact, if I only put her in a positioned chair every day or leave her lying somewhere, so to speak, sitting in her comfort zone, I doom myself to some subsequent complications that may occur over time“, she shares.
Ralitsa is a psychologist and helps families in need, and the donated funds also reach them.
„Even those toys that he sent me, I am currently exploiting in work with other children in our center. We work there absolutely free of charge, so to speak, on a friendly basis, and we are trying to create a community that can somehow function and support the families of such children“, says Ralitsa.
While people like Ivanka and Lora get a chance, Dimitar will continue his cause.
„The initial reaction is very often tears, because people in Bulgaria do not expect that they can get something for free, without paying a penny, a single cent for it. I wanted to set a personal example with the things we do“, says Dimitar.
Dimitar Ivanov has lived in different parts of the world, worked in the United States for several years, but decided to return to the village of Byala Reka – to continue the family tradition in livestock farming, but also to leave a mark on the people whose lives it changes.