B92 Fund delivers new equipment to soup kitchen in Kosovo

BELGRADE In the continuation of the Food for Enclaves campaign, B92 Fund delivered new equipment to a soup kitchen in the Kosovo village of Vrbovac on Friday. The B92 Fund is trying to secure enough food for six soup kitchens in the Kosovsko Pomoravlje District, the biggest Serb enclave in Kosovo. The kitchens provide meals to around 2,000 poorest citizens. B92 Fund delivers new equipment to soup kitchen in Kosovo B92 Fund Board of Directors President Veran Matic delivered a greenhouse, a cultivator for the stirring of soil in the greenhouse and a large amount of seeds of various kinds of potato and cabbage and necessary fertilizers. A project aimed at producing food by the soup kitchens was launched in 2011 so the kitchen could be as independent as possible. People who rely on soup kitchens to provide them with meals have received jobs thanks to the project. The latest donation will additionally facilitate forming of the production of food in greenhouses in order to increase the number of products during winter. The irrigation system and the refrigerator have already been donated to the Vrbovac soup kitchen. Matic stressed that the work of the soup kitchens in the Kosovsko Pomoravlje District had been successfully restored thanks to the B92 Fund, adding that the Fund had been helping the soup kitchens to function normally and help the poorest citizens for four years. More than 70,000 Serbs live in the Kosovsko Pomoravlje District. “We have another good project that will help strengthen and sustain these soup kitchens and that is a goat farm. We need to raise RSD 8mn so we could build a facility and make a mini-dairy for the production of cheese and buy another 80 goats. The sale of the cheese through the Decani monastery’s sales network can secure funds for the future self-financing of the farm and financing of the soup kitchens. I will take this opportunity to call on all interested people to help us realize the project as soon as possible,” Matic said. “B92 Fund’s financial aid to our soup kitchens has for the large part allowed us to continue our work and help the most threatened families in Kosovo and Metohija and we use this opportunity to honestly thank Mr. Matic and everybody who took part in the project,” said Raska-Prizren Bishop Teodosije. “We are especially grateful to God for getting closer to our goal to make the soup kitchens more economically sustainable that will allow us to expand our capacities and have more users. Aside from the material aid, we are especially happy that our joint work with the B92 Fund has shown a true solidarity of people who unselfishly want to help those in need. With great gratitude we also call on those who can to help us in the future, especially now that flour and oil reserves are almost gone,” the bishop noted. Matic also visited the Decani monastery and donated funds to an ethnic Albanian family at the request of the monastery’s monks. The money allowed an Albanian child to be sent to Italy for medical treatment. The monastery is well-known for its help to Albanians during the NATO bombing in 1999. The B92 representatives witnessed the difficult situation the monks lived in. The monastery is often targeted by extremists and monks are being harassed and they live in an almost complete isolation. The monastery successfully produces honey, wine and candles it could be used as a model for similar situations in Kosovo. Commenting on a protest against a decision of the Kosovo Supreme Court that confirmed that the monastery was entitled to 23 hectares, Decani monastery prior Sava Janjic said je truly believed that the municipality would respect the court decision and law. He recently thanked the U.S. and British ambassadors in Pristina for supporting the court’s decision that the land belonged to the monastery. The Kosovo Supreme Court has since 2009 been considering a complaint of two companies from Decani that claim they are entitled to a part of the monastery’s land that the Serbian government returned to the monastery in 1997. The court confirmed that the land belonged to the monastery in late December 2012. (B92, file) B92

B92 Fund delivers new equipment to soup kitchen in Kosovo

B92 Fund Board of Directors President Veran Matić delivered a greenhouse, a cultivator for the stirring of soil in the greenhouse and a large amount of seeds of various kinds of potato and cabbage and necessary fertilizers.

A project aimed at producing food by the soup kitchens was launched in 2011 so the kitchen could be as independent as possible. People who rely on soup kitchens to provide them with meals have received jobs thanks to the project.

The latest donation will additionally facilitate forming of the production of food in greenhouses in order to increase the number of products during winter. The irrigation system and the refrigerator have already been donated to the Vrbovac soup kitchen.

Matić stressed that the work of the soup kitchens in the Kosovsko Pomoravlje District had been successfully restored thanks to the B92 Fund, adding that the Fund had been helping the soup kitchens to function normally and help the poorest citizens for four years.

More than 70,000 Serbs live in the Kosovsko Pomoravlje District.

“We have another good project that will help strengthen and sustain these soup kitchens and that is a goat farm. We need to raise RSD 8mn so we could build a facility and make a mini-dairy for the production of cheese and buy another 80 goats. The sale of the cheese through the Dečani monastery’s sales network can secure funds for the future self-financing of the farm and financing of the soup kitchens. I will take this opportunity to call on all interested people to help us realize the project as soon as possible,” Matić said.

“B92 Fund’s financial aid to our soup kitchens has for the large part allowed us to continue our work and help the most threatened families in Kosovo and Metohija and we use this opportunity to honestly thank Mr. Matić and everybody who took part in the project,” said Raška-Prizren Bishop Teodosije.

“We are especially grateful to God for getting closer to our goal to make the soup kitchens more economically sustainable that will allow us to expand our capacities and have more users. Aside from the material aid, we are especially happy that our joint work with the B92 Fund has shown a true solidarity of people who unselfishly want to help those in need. With great gratitude we also call on those who can to help us in the future, especially now that flour and oil reserves are almost gone,” the bishop noted.

Matić also visited the Dečani monastery and donated funds to an ethnic Albanian family at the request of the monastery’s monks. The money allowed an Albanian child to be sent to Italy for medical treatment. The monastery is well-known for its help to Albanians during the NATO bombing in 1999.

The B92 representatives witnessed the difficult situation the monks lived in. The monastery is often targeted by extremists and monks are being harassed and they live in an almost complete isolation.

The monastery successfully produces honey, wine and candles it could be used as a model for similar situations in Kosovo.

Commenting on a protest against a decision of the Kosovo Supreme Court that confirmed that the monastery was entitled to 23 hectares, Dečani monastery prior Sava Janjić said je truly believed that the municipality would respect the court decision and law.

He recently thanked the U.S. and British ambassadors in Priština for supporting the court’s decision that the land belonged to the monastery.

The Kosovo Supreme Court has since 2009 been considering a complaint of two companies from Dečani that claim they are entitled to a part of the monastery’s land that the Serbian government returned to the monastery in 1997.

The court confirmed that the land belonged to the monastery in late December 2012.