She works with children and adults with disabilities in the same time as she is studying to become a special educator and rehabilitator at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia. Volunteer of the year at Loza Foundation is Glorija Naumovska.
– I can feel that my efforts make a difference in someone’s life, that is the reason why I work as a volunteer, says Glorija Naumovska.
Glorija encountered Loza Foundation in 2017 when she was a volunteer from the university at the Special Institution in Demir Kapija in North Macedonia. Both the university and Loza Foundation contributed during a five-day camp analyzing and planning ways to improve the conditions for the 250 people with disabilities living there. Since then, Glorija has traveled to Demir Kapija on several occasions in a voluntary context with the Loza Foundation.
– I visited the Special Institution already 2014, and since then I wanted to try and do more to help improve the living conditions for the people living there under such difficult conditions. But it wasn’t until 2018 when I joined Loza Foundations team of volunteers and got a chance to really make a difference.
During the past year, a lot of Glorijas focus has been on the children’s homes in Skopje, where Loza Foundation is engaged in about 50 children. By using her network of friends and fellow students, Glorija has been the project leader for a project where the children, with the help of volunteers, have been able to buy clothes and shoes and where each child also received a bicycle of their own. In addition to that, she was the coordinator of the Cycle4Europe charity event in Skopje as well as during EU parliamentarian David Lega’s visit to institutions in Demir Kapija where she volunteered as interpreter.
– I feel that the work Loza Foundation is doing is important because it focuses on children and adults in the most secluded places in Europe that live in terrible conditions, extreme poverty and exclusion. The aim of the foundation is to build bridges between people, companies and organizations who want to work together on improving the lives of vulnerable people and give them access to resources that will help them develop, grow and succeed as human beings.
Sabina Grubbeson is the founder of Loza Foundation:
– The reason why Loza Foundation works is thanks to volunteers who contribute with their time and dedication. Voluntary commitment is crucial and Glorija is one of those who has made it possible. As a person, she has really impressed on us and done an amazing job. And we hope that more people want to get involved and contribute to social sustainable development where it is needed the most, says Sabina Grubbeson.