Founded in 2006 by Herbert Stepic, CEO of Raiffeisen Bank International, Member of the Board of Vienna Economic Forum, the H. Stepic CEE Charity Foundation was created to provide help to children, adolescents and young women in less advantaged regions in CEE.
Currently there are projects in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Republik of Moldova, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.
One project was developed in Albania, where the H. Stepic CEE Charity and its project partner Caritas are converting a former health care centre into a day care centre for disabled people.
The centre, which was built with the generous support provided by Mr. Julius Eberhardt (Palais Fanto), the H. Stepic CEE Charity’s project partner, is located in Arameras, a town about 20 km away from Tirana. The Archbishop of Tirana provided the property for the centre. The building is being adapted and renewed according to the special needs disabled people have. Caritas will provide the professional administration of the centre, which will offer a new home to 35 young people with mental disabilities. They are between 8 and 25 years old. Partnered professional organisations will assume care for those residents who move out on reaching the age of 25.
There is a massive need for institutions for disabled persons in Albania. Some 80 per cent of this population has never attended a school and there are few public institutions for them.
Fotos and further information you will find on the website of H. Stepic CEE Charity (http://www.stepicceecharity.org)