For the beginning the Club wants to focus on the following projects:
- people with mobility problems,
- blind (help) dog,
- Christmas dinner,
- local orphanage house.
A. People with Mobility Problems
In Slovakia are many people, approximately 300,000, with mobility problems. The result of this mobility problem is that these people hardly will leave the house and are socially isolated.
Many of these people could be helped with a simple tool called Rollator.
In Slovakia the health insurance companies don’t or only partly pay for this simple and useful tool. If the insurance company pays the patient still has to pay around €85 This is in many cases between the 25% and 30% of their total net income.
The insurance companies also don’t stimulate the use of the rollator because they don’t want to spend money and think only on the short term.
In West Europe these Rollators are used already for many years and are used by many people.
We have the option to buy these Rollators new and second hand form the Netherlands.
New Rollators cost including transport to Slovakia between €55 and €60, second hand cost including transport to Slovakia between €40 and €45.
Target is to bring yearly one or more containers to Slovakia (450/500 pieces) and give them for free to people who need them.
We found already a Slovak Orthopedic Specialist who is willing to help use in this manner.
People or organizations who want such a rollator(s) will have to contact him and he will decide which people or organizations need them the most. If a rollator is available the person or organization will have to pay to the Orthopedic Specialist an administration fee of €10 and they will receive the rollator(s).
Option if we can distribute enough rollators we can use the rollator as an advertisement tool where companies for medical tools can place name “advertisement”. This would bring additional money for more Rollators.
B. Guide dog for blind person
Lions Club is closely connected with blind people and one of the best tools for blind people is a dog who can help them with their daily activities. Such a dogs cost money and the Health insurance companies in Slovakia don’t want to pay for these dogs.
The Target is that we yearly can help one blind person with getting a dog. The exact price of such a dog has to be found out, (approximately between €5,000 and €15,000).
C. Christmas Dinner
Just like in many big cities Bratislava has many, and yearly growing amount, homeless people. Especially in the winter and with Christmas these people could use some extra help.
Therefore we as the Branch would like to organize and/or participate in a project for a Christmas Dinner for these people. If possible maybe even help structurally during the whole winter.
D. Local Orphanage House
Many of our members have children and we will organize activities for our children.
In return we would like our children, with the support of some of our members, to organize activities for the children in one of the local orphanage houses.
- Collect toys and games and send them to the orphanage house.
- Collect new and good second hand cloth and send them to the orphanage house.
- Collect second hand radios/televisions and music instruments and send them to the orphanage house.
- Organize maybe once or more, for example with Christmas and Eastern, a party for all children in the orphanage house.
- Get our children in direct contact with one or more children in the orphanage house by making those pen friends and let them send, especially on the kids birthday and with Christmas, letters/cards and little presents.