On 10 November 2011 in The Hague, in the restaurant of the chain of supermarkets Sligro, the Macedonian Embassy in The Hague together with Mrs. Patricia Hollamby, organized the Macedonian Charity Lunch in order to promote Macedonia and to raise funds intended for the NGO Republic Center for Support of Persons with Intellectual Disability – PORAKA.
The lunch was attended by nearly 90 guests, representatives of the diplomatic corps, members of the Rotary Club, International Women’s Contact and the Spanish Club, as well as many other eminent guests from Dutch social circles.
The event was made possible and supported by the generous donations of wines from the Macedonian wineries Bovin, Popova Kula and Tikveš, of the typical Macedonian spread Ajvar from the Macedonian producer Mama’s food, as well as with the support from the Dutch importer of Macedonian wines – Balkan Wines. The Embassy would also like to convey special gratitude towards the tour operator Corendon, the Macedonian art gallery Oliver and the Macedonian artist Vladimir Georgievski, whose donations of a tourist trip to Macedonia and paintings made possible the auction that was organized during the lunch.
Valuable contribution to the event was also given by the young musicians Cvetanka Sozovska and Elena Nakovska, who performed free of charge and enriched the lunch with the beautiful sounds of the Macedonian music.
The excellent taste of the food was provided free of charge by the Dutch chef Marko Karelse (restaurant in Voorburg Villa la Ruche) and the owner of the Macedonian restaurant in Groningen – Balkan Restaurant, Bobi Milevski.
This event was a great opportunity not only to raise funds for charity, but also to make an excellent promotion of the food, wines and part of the rich culture that Macedonia has to offer. Articles about the Charity Lunch were published in the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad and in the Macedonian daily newspapers Vest and Utrinski vesnik.
