Last week the Center for Inclusive Work Activities received a generous donation of sweets and chocolate from Müller Trade Zagreb doo. They have been cooperating since August 2014 as part of the Supported Employment program. Chocolate Day also lit up the faces of beneficiaries and employees of the Association for Promoting Inclusion and the Center for Adult Education Validus. Inspired by this lovely gesture, we decided to share this donation with the House of Love in the Zagreb neighborhood of Savica-Šanci that provides accommodation and care for the youngest residents of Caritas, infants and children up to three years old and unprovided mothers and pregnant women. Our choice was not accidental. We started the cooperation with House of Love a few years ago, when our beneficiary, within her person-centered planning, decided that she wanted to volunteer and spend some of her free time with the youngest. It was the House of Love that provided the opportunity and opened their doors for us, while some other institutions turned a deaf ear to our requests, and refused us because of the handicap that our beneficiary has. This turned out to be a great success and a lasting relationship with the House of Love was made. We were especially delighted by the fact that our beneficiary was herself a Caritas child, so that volunteering and sharing her free time with the new generations really meant a lot to her.

For this reason we decided to pay this generous chocolate donation forward to the youngest protégés, who will probably be thrilled about this. This Friday we headed to Savica, where we were warmly welcomed by the employees who showed us around and briefly introduced us to their everyday life. Unfortunately for our Vlatka and Slavica, who have helped us with the packages, the little ones were sleeping this time, but that did not diminish their satisfaction with this visit. Moreover, while we were on our way back to the Association, Vlatka stated that ‘doing good deeds is most rewarding’. After that, delighted what she had seen, she has shown interest in volunteering and concluded that playing with the children there would make her immensely happy.

This action will not by any chance end our cooperation. This chocolate flavored story just shows how much we can actually do and how we can really help each other by working together. These are not great acts, but they are definitely from the heart. Chocolate and the House of Love made our day.