Local services
The Association of Bihar State Care Recipients (BAGE) and its partners are again organising the traditional chocolate collection campaign in Debrecen this year. For over a decade, this event has brought cheer to the lives of many children in state care, for whom the December holidays are perhaps less intimate and peaceful than others.
The press conference was held at the Fórum Debrecen shopping centre, the traditional venue for the chocolate collection, on 12 November 2024. As the host, Ajtony Átányi, the centre manager, said the shopping centre had been a partner of the chocolate collection campaign for almost ten years and last year.
Last year, the “chocolate slide”, which replaced the collection box at the information desk, was introduced by Metál-Sheet Kft. The novelty was so successful that at the end of the slide, more than 1 tonne of sweets were collected for the children in care. Ajtony Átányi expressed the hope that the slide will help to put even more chocolate in “Santa’s Sleigh” this year.
Lajos Buzás, President of BAGE, said that this action is not just a symbolic event but a real collaboration that makes children who rarely enjoy small pleasures feel that there are people who are looking out for them. “With each chocolate, we donate not only sweets but also attention, love and hope because sometimes the smallest things are the most powerful,” he pointed out. The association’s president addressed private individuals, entrepreneurs and businesses who feel social responsibility and care about the fate of children in state care and asked them to join this year’s chocolate collection campaign with a single bar of chocolate or a significant donation. Following the collection, the association’s traditional chocolate distribution gala – always attended by hundreds of children – is scheduled for 17 December.
Diána Széles, co-chair of the Debrecen Charity Board and deputy mayor of Debrecen, drew the attention of the children present to the fact that many of their kids have a life of hardships and lack a loving family environment. This action aims to make these children feel that there are people who think of them, care for them and support them, even if it is in the form of a chocolate bar. Few NGOs are specifically concerned with children in state care, and one of them is BAGE. She mentioned that Lajos Buzás has been awarded the Pro Caritate prize for his outstanding work in the social field. This recognition has gone to a perfect place, as will the chocolates collected in this year’s campaign. The aim is to collect 3,000 chocolates, which will not only be distributed to the children at the December gala event but also to the many children living in residential homes in the county. The Municipality of Debrecen also supports this goal through the Debrecen Charity Board. In this way, love can be felt by children who may otherwise be little thought of.
Edit Bódor, the president of the Debrecen Charity Board, recalled her memories of when she was not the head of the Board and was helping the association. She recalled the excitement of the first chocolate collection gala more than 10 years ago, the excitement of assembling the packages, and the children’s enthusiasm for Santa Claus, which was a wonderful experience. Another memorable moment for her was when the children were allowed to ride the Ferris wheel in Debrecen’s main square. Edit Bódor encouraged everyone to help.
Zsófia Máthé, the sales and marketing manager of Metál-Sheet Kft., revealed the “secret” that the chocolate slide itself is not made of chocolate, of course, but of metal – so-called sandwich panel – which is four centimetres thick, and the slide is eight and a half metres long. “That’s not the point, of course, but it is part of a spectacular installation that will attract the attention of all visitors to the shopping centre. If they get a little closer, they will get the message that they can help make Christmas better for children growing up in care by giving them a little something, a chocolate bar, which they can symbolically deliver through this slide,” she said, asking everyone to visit the slide and slide down a bar of chocolate.
Source and photo credit: debrecen.hu
