St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Foundation

Foundation "St. Nicholas the Wonderworker" – For a Dignified and Independent Life of People with Intellectual Disabilities

The Foundation is an organization of like-minded individuals who work exclusively on issues concerning people with intellectual disabilities and their families.

Services

• Information

• Consultation

• Advocacy

• Mediation

• Social Entrepreneurship and more

Social Enterprise "The Wonderful Garden"

The social enterprise "The Wonderful Garden" provides employment opportunities for people with disabilities. At the entrance, there is a stand with seasonal vegetables and flowers produced by young people with intellectual disabilities.
Working hours: 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Monday to Saturday. The enterprise also has a small retail outlet at 3 Nezavisimost Street, open from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

Significant Achievements

Since 2004, the foundation has been a member of the Bulgarian Association for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (BALIZ). It developed the first pilot model for substitute care in Bulgaria and created a self-advocacy group, part of the National Self-Advocates Platform. The foundation succeeded in lifting the first legal incapacitations in Bulgaria, a historic precedent noted by the United Nations in 2006. Since 2019, the foundation has been developing one of the most successful social enterprises, and since 2013, the first model in the country for a social service called "Independent Living."

The foundation continues to protect the rights and support people with intellectual disabilities and their families.