News > CROZ and the Association of Persons with Disabilities of the Sisak-Moslavina County have partnered to bring the Inclusive Farm to life

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CROZ and the Association of Persons with Disabilities of the Sisak-Moslavina County have partnered to bring the Inclusive Farm to life

29. 04. 2021

Overview

In March this year, CROZ employees joined their forces with the Association of Persons with Disabilities of the Sisak-Moslavina County (UOSISMŽ) on the Inclusive farm project.

In March this year, CROZ employees joined their forces with the Association of Persons with Disabilities of the Sisak-Moslavina County (UOSISMŽ) on the Inclusive farm project. After the devastating earthquake that hit the area of Sisak-Moslavina County, we decided to focus our energy on helping people with disabilities and developmental difficulties. For many of them, those few seconds of the earthquake, in addition to all the well-known problems, brought additional stress – therapeutic activities were interrupted, support programs were stopped, spaces where they felt safe and protected got destroyed, and sudden stress entered their lives.

We were familiar with the activities of the Association of Persons with Disabilities of Sisak-Moslavina County, so we contacted them and we quickly realized that we can best help them by realizing the Inclusive farm project. The Inclusive Farm project seeks to provide psychosocial support to children and young people with disabilities through a half-day stay on the farm. CROZ is donating funds for the construction of a care center (or half-day center), in which children and young people with disabilities will be able to participate in workshops such as processing and preparation of vegetables and aromatic herbs. Farm users will also grow crops in already built greenhouses. Rehabilitation and construction of the new facility have begun on April 21, and the half-day center will be ready for the first users in September this year.

“When you live in a community that has no social services for people with disabilities, then you take it upon yourself to build a place in the sun for everyone. After years of effort, twenty seconds of devastating earthquake brings you back to the starting position. But every misfortune brings fortune, and our fortune were the people from CROZ, who contacted us with the desire to get to know us and support our work. They liked the idea of our Inclusive Farm and they decided to support it. I often wonder what have we done to be so fortunate that such wonderful people have given us their support, proving to us again and again that we are not alone and that we can do everything together. Thank you, people from CROZ – with you, our Farm has started to grow. ”

Dijana Smajo, President of UOSISMŽ

April is Autism Awareness month. Apart from people with disabilities, UOSISMŽ has twenty members who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, who will also be able to develop their skills and competencies at the Farm. Projects such as the Inclusive Farm are extremely important for raising the quality of life of people with disabilities from the autism spectrum. We believe that the success of this project will significantly contribute to raising awareness about autism in Croatia, and we are pleased to be a part of such a valuable initiative.