Do you ever feel like your family’s annual Christmas gift exchange is less than meaningful? Does trying to find the perfect, useful, and exciting gift for a parent, sibling or child leave you stressed, exhausted, and NOT in the Christmas spirit? How about trying something new this year … something that still involves your whole family and leaves everyone feeling like they gave and got exactly what they needed? One Heart-Bulgaria wants to help all interested individuals and families pool their efforts and Christmas budget to give Christmas away to the orphans this year!!!

Most orphanages at Christmas time will have a simple party. There may be some pieces of candy, a few songs, and some balloons but then it is over. Most of the orphans do not go home to a loving family and a cozy, sweet-smelling house where stockings are hung, goodies are baked, or a where a sparkling Christmas tree stands in the corner. They simply spend the holidays in a dismal orphanage like any other day. Below, we have listed meaningful projects you can sign up for as a family (or office, business, or just a group of friends). While most of the projects have nothing to do with actually celebrating Christmas, each of them are things the children are in great need of year-round in order to be comfortable in the orphanage. If you are interested in any of these projects, or if you are interested in having One Heart-Bulgaria send out a Christmas card on behalf of your gift (i.e. "Dear Friend, Merry Christmas! A Christmas Party for an orphanage in Bulgaria has been donated in your name.") please contacts contact Deborah Gardner at Deborah@oneheart-bg.org

Christmas Donations Options:

• Christmas party for one orphanage $60
• Annual birthday party budget for one orphanage $200/year
• Arts and crafts supplies for one orphanage $75/year
• Support Art and Drama programs at one teenage orphanage $500-900/year
• Educational supplies for one orphanage ages 7-18 years $700-$1,000/year
• Feminine hygiene items for teenage girls in one orphanage $150/month or one time gift of $800.
• Diapers for one infant orphanage $200/month or one time gift of $500-$800.
• Field trip budget for one orphanage ages 3-7 years $200/year
• Post-operative care on clubfeet, cleft pallets, crossed eyes, or harelips $40/child
• Bedding and hygiene items such as sheets, mattresses, toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo, etc for one orphanage $1,000/year.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Other Ways to Help & Get Involved:

• Christmas card orders: Express your support for the orphans and One Heart Bulgaria by sending these gorgeous cards to everyone one your list. On the front of our special Christmas cards is a copy of a beautiful mural that is painted on a window at one of our orphanages. The inside is blank and on the back is a little note about One Heart Bulgaria. Order now: 15 cards for just $15. We can also send out individual cards for you to your friends and family, i.e.: "This year we decided to donate $25 to One Heart Bulgaria in your name. Merry Christmas from the Johnson family!" Place orders at theoldrockhouse@gmail.com
• Neighborhood Christmas get-together: I don't about your neighborhoods, but in our neighborhoods everyone spends upwards to $50 (and lots of time) in little gifts for their neighbors. What about asking your neighborhood to donate to One Heart Bulgaria instead?! This can be a wonderful experience when neighbors gather at a designated home (either indoors or out on the driveway in front of a small fire) for an open house where they can share goodies and place donations anonymously into a big box wrapped as a present to the orphans. Pulling together this way means that not only do your neighbors get a chance to mingle, but also a chance to give a gift that year that really made a difference. Maybe your neighborhood would like to provide 1 grandmother for an orphanage for 2010 (a donation of $1,200).
• A present of a monthly donation: For those of you out there that are terribly hard to buy for, consider asking your family to give an automatic monthly donation (or one-time donation) to One Heart Bulgaria in your behalf. A one-time donation of $200 can provide flu shots for one orphanage or fresh fruit and veggies for 4 months. A monthly donation of $50 will provide 5 months of music time at a toddler orphanage. Just go to www.oneheart-bg.org/donate.php to donate online or you can send a check to:One Heart Bulgaria 561 N. 150 W.; Centerville, UT 84014; USA.

*Note: The shipping and transportation costs from the USA to Bulgaria are very high and we prefer monitory donations so that the above mentioned items can be purchased directly in Bulgaria where the prices are generally much lower.