For a third consecutive year, on 29 March, Kempinski Hotel Zografski organized Stop TB football tournament to raise money for the battle against tuberculosis. Ten teams joined in to show that every effort matters: Kempinski Hotel Zografski, Panorama Restaurant, Coca Cola, Special Events Group, Radisson Blu Sofia, Maxi Restaurant, Festa Hotel, Euro Joli, Bulgaria Gateway and Green Clean Group played a series of matches to support the initiative.
“Our sister properties organize various initiatives to mark the International Stop TB day,” said Iliyan Sevdin, Banqueting Manager at Kempinski Hotel Zografski and a member of the hotel football team. “Three years ago we decided we wanted to do something that would unite social responsibility and fun, and would give every staff member the awareness of personally contributing to a noble cause. Unlike projects where companies give money for social initiatives out of their budget, here the main contributors are the staff members, their families and friends who know that the money goes directly to the people in need”.
During the last two years the funds raised were donated to the University children’s clinic for lung diseases in Sofia. This year, to ensure that broader scope of support is given, the amount of EUR 2000 collected during the tournament will be donated to the specialized hospital for active treatment of respiratory diseases in the town of Pernik.
In addition to the funds raised, a separate individual donation was made for the cause by Ivan Glushkov, an employee from the Housekeeping department who, in the course of one year, managed to collect and send for recycling 4984 kg of paper.
“Setting a tradition related to fighting tuberculosis is extremely important since it shows our active social responsibility towards the value of life and the improvement of life quality,” said Gerd Ruge, General Manager of Kempinski Hotel Zografski Sofia. “Stop TB tournament initiative supported devotedly by our partners can assist health projects and hence the community with several clear objectives – to donate to hospitals in need but also to share knowledge and information about the disease, to change people’s behaviour in order to detect the illness at an early stage and facilitate treatment”.
The notorious statistics show that 230,000 Bulgarians are admitted to hospital with lung diseases every year; more than 14 000 are diagnosed with malignant formations of the respiratory organs; 3600 die as a result of respiratory diseases.