Help People with Intellectual Disabilities -Serbia

Dear Friends,

As a loyal supporter you already know that KEC’s mission is to serve and care for people with special needs. In order to achieve this mission we are constantly exploring new ways to raise funds to keep our programs going. With fewer and fewer grants available we started to think about what KEC can do to help itself be more financially sustainable. Over 20 years of exploration we have had a lot of ideas. Not all of them good ideas. Most of them involved too much effort (most of which could not be done by the beneficiaries) and very little profit. After one idea we were stuck with an industrial food dryer and a freezer full of berries. We started to think (and to be honest worry a bit) what to do next.

We needed to come up with an idea that would use the equipment we had and be something that we could take pride in. Since the Serbian diet is very meat oriented (you won’t find a lot of quinoa on the menus) and not very health conscious we wanted to make something that would also be a healthy alternative. So we challenged ourselves to come up with a natural snack that didn’t already exist on the local market. Many reincarnations later we have the Gardenika Fruit Roll made from 100% fruit. Our fruit roll is a strip of pure fruit rolled up just waiting to be gobbled up by kids and adults alike.

In order to make this enterprise work we had to bring in as many partners as possible. We partner with the supermarkets that sell our fruit rolls (and employ many of our beneficiaries) to rescue their surplus fruit. We get those apples, bananas and strawberries immediately to our blenders and food dryers to transform them into the fruit rolls that we sell back to the markets. Our beneficiaries are involved in every aspect of the work from picking up the fruit to putting the KEC label on each bag. In the beginning we were selling a few rolls to the small corner health stores. Today, our rolls are in most of the big chain supermarkets in Belgrade.

For the moment KEC’s fruit rolls are a nano-enterprise. The production is tiny and while sales are growing they remain small. But as healthy snacks become more common in Serbia we hope that our nano-enterprise will grow into a micro-enterprise and one day a full-fledged small business. Considering that any profits we make are reinvested in KEC’s programs for people with special needs we are sure that we will succeed.

If you are in Belgrade buy a bunch of Gardenika Fruit Rolls each time you see them on the supermarket shelves. Supporting KEC helps us to continue to implement the fruit roll project as well as all our other much needed programming for people with special needs (and along the way we might help make Serbian kids and adults a little healthier).

With the holidays fast approaching KEC is in high gear to make sure that all of our beneficiaries feel the holiday spirit. We at KEC are all grateful for what we have, including the KEC center.  All year we work so hard to keep it running and at the holidays we take a minute to be thankful that we are able to do this work and make a difference in the lives of so many. 

In order to make the holidays a joyous time we are collecting donations for holiday presents for our beneficiaries. Many of our beneficiaires come from poor families and some have no families so the KEC family makes sure that every one gets a present and has a chance to celebrate. The small packages we put together, with help from local companies and individuals, reminds our clients that they are each important and that someone cares about them at the holidays and always. 

The holidays also mean preparing for our annual Christmas celebration. The staff and participants spend weeks leading up to the holiday preparing a performance which always includes a lot of dancing, singing and smiles. On the day of the holiday performance the center is always crowded with people and a contagious holiday cheer. 

Our job is to make sure that the whole KEC family feels the holiday spirit through the presents from Santa (although around here he is known as Deda Mraz) and by spending time together.  With this in mind me we also open the center up on New Year’s Eve so our beneficiaries can hang out with their friends and ring in the New Year together.

All of us at KEC want to wish you all a happy holiday one full of blessing and joy. Thanks for helping us pass on the holiday spirit to our beneficiaires.