On April 13, Depaul Croatia organised an Easter program in the premises of H-Garden, in a joyful and family atmosphere, where numerous visitors, volunteers, associates, employees and a cheerful group from the “Star of Peace” Kindergarten gathered. In the garden, creative workshops for making flower arrangements and decorations were held under the leadership of Ela Lukenda, and the CEO of Depaul Croatia, sister of charity Veronika Mila Popić, presented the activities of H-garden together with two other projects and their further development. These are projects called: (Re)Activate in H-Garden and a musical-educational project focused on the formation and training of choirs, which was talked about by the director of the Local Self-Government Authority, Dragica Fadljević; soloist of the Rijeka Opera Voljen Grbac and an employee of Depaul Magdalena Pavlić spoke in more detail. At the end of the Easter program, the newly founded choir ‘Depaul Family Singers’ held a special concert in the garden area, and thus, in addition to helping its users every day, the garden became the center of Easter joy and merriment for one day for everyone gathered there.
At the beginning of the program, the guests had the opportunity to participate in the creative process of making flower arrangements and decorations, and two projects were presented below. The first one, called ‘(Re)Activate in H-Garden’, is supported and co-financed by the City of Rijeka with the aim of involving the local community, encouraging different meetings, cooperation, socialising, constructive creative contribution and restoring working habits. With this additional project, H-Garden will become a place of quality resocialisation and reintegration of the homeless into the local community. The fruits of previous work, products from the garden, are intended for use and distribution, and with their purchases and monetary donations, they ensure the self-sustainability of H-Garden, and support users in various needs.
In cooperation with the project partner Croatian Music Union, Rijeka branch, a musical-educational project aimed at the formation and improvement of choirs was launched. Professional vocal soloists, Voljen Grbac and Vivien Galletta, teach and prepare clients of Depaul for independent performances and have already given several such performances in Delnice, Kastav and in the homes for the elderly ‘Volosko’ and ‘Kantrida’, in the hope that their voice will to be heard in wider areas of our homeland. The second choir is the ‘Depaul Family Singers’ whose members are singers who are users and volunteers of Depaul Hrvatska, under the leadership of Voljen Grbac and Magdalena Pavlić. The music project aims to include as many users as possible and offer them quality content with values that ennoble and build a person as a person, in order to enable him to make the best possible progress from his misery to a better future.
At the end of the Easter program, the newly founded choir ‘Depaul Family Singers’ held a special concert in the garden area, and thus, in addition to helping its users every day, the garden became the centre of Easter joy and merriment for one day. for everyone gathered. And refreshments were provided for those gathered, prepared by the kitchen team of the Haven House Day Centre.
Sister Veronika Mila Popić thanked everyone who supports the activities and implementation of the Depaul Croatia projects, adding that the music project ‘Depaul Family Singers’ was financed by the Primorje and Gorski Kotar County, and the other project partner is the Shelter for the Homeless “Roses of St. Francis”.
