The Old Palace yesterday hosted the solemn ceremony to mark a two-year anniversary of the Humanitarian Foundation “Novi Beograd”. Many of the Foundation’s protégés, primarily children, attended the ceremony, together with public personae who are the Foundation’s Ambassadors, and representatives of media houses, which, by providing support, contributed to this humanitarian mission reaching out to a growing number of people in the country and abroad. 
One of these is our company “Color Press Group”, which was granted a thank-you note for acts of humanity and unselfish help to the Foundation of the Municipality of New Belgrade. While presenting the Foundation’s results, its founder Aleksandar Šapić said: – In these two years that the Foundation exists, we have collected more than 170 million dinars, with more than 1 million received SMS messages, which was of help in order to enable 56 protégés to receive medical treatment. Furthermore, with our transparent methods, we managed to become to most credible organization in the country, and I believe that to many people we brought back the faith and hope in the field of humanitarian work. This Foundation has a unique operations manner in Serbia, because so far there has not been any foundation enabling the protégés to find the much needed means, in a simple way and according to the Foundation’s motto “equal opportunities for everyone”. Simultaneously, those who provide help at any given moment know how the activity proceeds and how much money has been garnered.
This became possible owing to a launch of the Web portal www.budihuman.rs, where all those who seek help can have their own page, sub-account and number, with a unique, mutual SMS number 3030. The money from the Foundation’s account is sent directly to institutions, i.e. not through any individual. On a daily basis, it is published on the Web portal how much money has been garnered for each help seeking person. When all the necessary money has been collected, it is transferred to the account of the institution or the company in question, in order to reach the objective (medical treatment, procurement of medical apparatus, and alike). After 18 months of service, the Foundation expanded its capacity of helping the protégés by opening humanitarian auctions via the Web portal budihuman.rs. Its founder, the famous water polo player Aleksandar Šapić was the first to offer at the auction his 24 medals, won throughout a very successful sports career. In only one month and a half, 10 medals were sold, and the amount of over 60.000 euros was collected! Afterwards, other celebrities from the world of sports and other spheres of life called to support the activity. At the ceremony, Šapić handed in the first 10 medals that had been sold to the buyers. Among those who bought medals, thus helping someone to get medical treatment, there were the footballer Dejan Deki Stanković, and numerous companies, whereas three medals were bought by Aleksandar Šapić himself. Right there on the spot, he granted them to the children who are in the medical treatment programme, and who were present when marking the Foundation’s two years of service. – I am very happy that my medals have won two times. For the first time, when I won them on tournaments, and today when selling them means collecting the money to cure children. After all the medals have been sold, which I believe is going to happen soon, there will be no happier person than me, because by that they will definitely go down in history, and the money will end up with those who need it the most. I would like to thank everyone who has supported the Foundation’s activities. I believe that every anniversary will be more successful, from the aspect of the means collected, and in the aspect of the number of protégés, i.e. the children that we managed to cure.
Humanitarian work is an endless issue, and everyone who is in a position to get involved in it should do so, as long as they are alive and available to help – Šapić said. The video about the children who had been cured owing to the Humanitarian Foundation’s help was shown at the solemn anniversary ceremony.
