If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. – Vincent Van Gogh

Your art and your story is import to us, and we'd love to share it with the world.  Please tag your work to us on Instagram or send us an email @ [email protected]

"Kaleidoscope of Spring" Watercolor painting by Lisa Mitrovic Coluccio 

"Do no violence to yourself, respect in yourself the oscillations of feeling. They are your life and your nature; One wiser than you ordained them. Do not abandon yourself altogether either to instinct or to will. Instinct is a siren, will a despot. Be neither the slave of your impulses and sensations of the moment, nor of an abstract and general plan; be open to what life brings from within and without, and welcome the unforeseen; but give to your life unity, and bring the unforeseen within the lines of your plan. Let what is natural in you raise itself to the level of the spiritual, and let the spiritual become once more natural. Thus will your development be harmonious, and the peace of heaven will shine upon your brow; always on condition that your peace is made, and that you have climbed your Calvary."
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Please join us as we partner with Lifeline Humanitarian Organization Chicago
to make a difference in the lives of orphaned children.

Lifeline Chicago's annual Christmas Drive has blessed thousands of children in Serbia over the years. This year, Lifeline Chicago has four new facilities, and they really need our help to furnish them with supplies.

In these four facilities alone, there are over 1,200 children, teens, and adults with special needs. Your donations will work to provide each one of these orphans with shoes, pajamas and underwear; winter jackets; hats; and gloves.  

As you can see from the pictures above, Lifeline Chicago's team of amazing volunteers work passionately every year to fill a shipping container with Christmas gifts and supplies. They even have an amazing color coded system so you can be sure that 100% of your donations will end up where they should. 

We love Serbia, and caring for the orphans is important to us.
Every effort goes a long way to making life better for those less fortunate, so lets all work together!

Thank you, friends, for joining us as we bring love, hope, and joy this Christmas to the orphans in Serbia ~ 

Donate by October 31st, 2017 to partner with us in this campaign.

To make a donation, please use our Paypal account located in the donation section of our website
​or by mail at: 
Bridges to Serbia
91-51 Kaomi Loop, Kapolei, HI 96707

To learn more about Lifeline Chicago and the work they are doing in Serbia, please visit their website 
https://www.lifelinechicago.org/
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*100% of your donations are used to purchase supplies for the orphans.  
*All donations are tax deductible 


 


 

​Merry Christmas, friends ~ 
 
This year we have a very special Christmas Giving Campaign, and a very lovely gift for you! 
 
Our 2016 Christmas charity is BELhospice in Belgrade Serbia! 
 
100% of your donations will be used to purchase a gift basket filled with items such as food, clothing, toiletries and medical devices, for the patients of BELhospice and their families.
 
BELhospice is the only specialized charity organization in Serbia that provides palliative care to cancer patients during the last phase of their illness. 
 
​To learn more about BELhospice please visit their website @ www.belhospice.org
 
“the patients are happy to hear someone cares, as they are left isolated by the society, and their families are so burdened and overwhelmed by the difficulty of the situation. Even the smallest gift will be appreciated.”  
Jelena, Volunteer, BELhospice Serbia ~
 
Our Gift To You ~ One of our donor’s will receive the lovely Hawaiian gifts pictures above.
 
We are forever grateful to our donors and we cannot thank you enough for your generosity. We wish you a very Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year !

To make a donation please use our Paypal account located in the donation section of our website.
 
*Donation not necessary to be eligible to receive the gift.  Email us for more information. 
*In Serbia Christmas is generally celebrated on January 7th. The gifts will be hand delivered by a BELhopice volunteer during the Christmas week of January 7th - January 14th 2017

​SERBIA – A HEART OF EUROPE
 
During period of refugee crisis from Syria, lot of people passed through our country... and still. We organized friends and NGO to help those people in need. We were packing packages of food, hygiene, water, and everything they will need for traveling to their destinations.
 
EUS Serbia (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) and ROM (Renewing Our Minds) was partnering in this situation with refugees. With packages we were at Hungary border and at Croatian border. In one day 6000 refugees came with buses from Belgrade to cross this border with Croatia. We were sharing this packages and talking with refugees - a lot of people tired of walking... One more obstacle, border of Croatia, and passing through corn fields for their „promise land“ last destination – Germany, Sweden, Nederlands, etc.
 
Despite of many years of media lies about Serbs and Serbia, our people had a heart for strangers from another country, because, we had a Serb refugees from Bosnia and Croatia, a lot of times in a wars, embargos and poverty during more than 30 years, and we know the feeling of loosing everything and trying to find something for survival in these wilderness and chaos.
 
Serbia – a heart of Europe, heart that a lot of people was hurting and lot of them staying in it...
 
Serbia is my heart!
 „For where your treasure is, there will be also your heart“ (The Bible) Matthew 6:21
 
Jelena Đokić
Belgrade, Serbia
 

HE HELD OUT HIS HAND

Who is this man? Oddly dressed.
With outstretched hand. He wants something?
 
I live in Serbia. In the old Roman capital - Sremska Mitrovica. The small town with its rich culture and history. Four times it has been the capital of the Roman Empire. Many emperors were born here. Once, we were the strongest industrial city. And now? Picture says it all.
 
"The European Union, we will be better, let's go there!" Very often, these words resound on the TV, the radio, in parliament. But I do not believe in fairy tales. Not just me, but and this old man, a beggar, who is eating from a trash container when we met, he thinks differently .
 
In my town, all the factories are closed. Young people are in confusion. Many want to go out of our country. They're looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. Do you have choise? Where is the light?
 
The answer to the question, I received an unexpected, one summer day when I accidentally stumbled upon this beggar. What's the response been?
 
When I was at the primary school, often times through the window I saw this man, hunched, how he pushing wheelchair, he try found at the container something, filled with a sack and put on his back and continued to walk. Often, I asked others people, who he is, but no one knew the answer. And, 15 years later, I ran into him. The "meeting" was unexpected. I recognized him immediately.

Little man. Hunched. Torn clothes. Holey shoes.
 
I was about to go to the beach. He stood in the container. I felt the strong stench. I approached him. He looks scared.
 
"Hello, I want to greet you. Do you need anything. Maybe the shoes, money? Or food?"
 
Sad eyes and a slight smile, he replied: "No boy, I don't need, you need the money."
 
I was astonished. I took out all the money I had, and gave it to him. He did not want to take. I was surprised and asked why. He was silent. And he watched me. Sad sight ..

"But take this money, really, I want to help you," I told him. And, after a few minutes, an old man, held out his hand. At that moment, my heart broke. I was happy. But, sad. Strange feeling.
 
I asked him to tell me something about his life. He grew up with his brother who  always humiliated him. In school, he was frequently belittled. He was marginalized in society.
 
At one point he said: "There will not God help us, and He left us." Strange, but he seemed happy and satisfied.
 
"Do you have help from the city, municipality, anyone?" I asked him. He looked at me, with tired eyes and replied: "No, no one has ever helped me. I'm struggling through with life."
 
I'm speechless. Why? Beside me stood a man who I've seen many times in my life. He was always in a hurry, always he pulled some old stuff from the container and quickly left place. Now, he looked so peaceful and happy to be talking with someone.. I was never able to learn more about him. Now, I had the opportunity. And, I decided to help him.
 
I went home. I sat on the bed and thinking. I decided.
 
I called my little brother and asked him to help me. We took from my room one bed and two armchairs. I found out where is his house. When we went there, we were speechless. A man was sitting at the entrance in demolished  house and he ate the bone. Beside him, passed by a rat. There is no electricity and no water. One horror scene, unbelievable. I was surprised.
 
We gave him a bed and two armchairs. He looks very happy. I promised him that I would bring him some things when you collect. We turned around and left.
 
And, brother and I, we were imagined. We walked on the street.. We kept quiet..
I was thinking. About what?
 
About Serbia.
About my city.
About people.
 
Where did it go humanism? Where is a good people? What happened to us?
 
The answer lies in the us, deep inside and in open and outstretched old and feeble hand of this man.
 
One summer day, changed my life.
 
Serbian Patriarch Pavle said: "Let us be men."
 
Humanity has no price.
 
Aleksandar Jovanovic

For more inforation on Aleksander Jovanovic and his martial arts school in Serbia "Wing Chun Kung Fu Mali Zmaj"  please email us at [email protected] 

Serbia! It’s charming and beautiful – if you’ve been here, you know.

But I must be honest -- I favor the village.  Endless miles of rolling hills, amazing organic food and simple living.  One should come here just to breathe the air.

I’m an American Serb who would give anything for acres of organic land and the knowledge and fortitude to grow my own food.   In America we have “Farm to Table” restaurants popping up everywhere – here in the village, it’s always been that way. 

But all this greatness comes with a price. Hard work! People work hard just to survive. There are no jobs to make a living. The majority of people want to escape – I want to stay!   

In Serbia the economy is bad, horrific actually.  The floods in May made matters worse.  All of this economical chaos has taken a big toll on families, and sometimes parents leave.  Yes, you read correctly.  Parents leave! 

Sadly, it’s quite common for many of the village children to live with their grandparents or neighbors because their parents leave to find work in other countries.  It’s so common that no one really talks about it.  It’s shocking to me!  What upsets me the most is when the mother’s leave, and don’t come back.

I was horrified to hear the life story of one of our sweet friends, who at the age of 14 only met his mother once. To make matters worse, his father is mental ill and unable to care for him.  He lives with a neighbor.

Because it’s Serbia, these kids will always have enough to eat, and a place to sleep – after all, Serbia is the most hospitable place on earth.  But with such a large number of Serbian Diaspora in the world, we can’t just sit back and settle for that.  So let’s do something, friends – the children and families of Serbia need us!