They started out as a Facebook group “Women of Bar Cook with Heart” (“Žene Bara kuvaju srcem”), and n 6th November they achieved one very big goal – they opened the first soup kitchen in Bar.

At the start of the year, a few women, cooking enthusiasts started the group firstly as a way of exchanging recipes and cooking advice. However, very soon they came up with the idea of making this a way of helping socially vulnerable citizens, so they all started to prepare meals for elderly and citizens in difficult economic conditions. Today, the group has around 4,000 members, and an organization Big-Hearted Women behind it.

In just a few months, supported by numerous donors, these women succeeded in opening a soup kitchen, in order to make meals for the people that need them even more efficiently. At the beginning of their work, the kitchen is set to make 100 meals every day, which the citizens will be able to get from 11:30 to 13h.

“We didn’t want to make it into a restaurant space, as there are those who feel embarrassed about the situation they find themselves in. This is also a way of giving them a little more than one meal, so that they will also have some leftovers for dinner. We will also continue to work with the Red Cross Bar, so that from Wednesday morning carers from Red Cross can get meals here and take them to the people they visit and look after. I do believe we have made a very good plan”, said Ljiljana Vujovic, President of the organization Women of Bar Cook with the Hear.  

Many of the members haven’t got a lot of time to cook, as they have careers and their own families to cook for and look after. And yet, even these women took part in the project form the very beginning, realizing tis immense social importance. President Vujovic pointed out that the list provided by Center for social care of Bar shows there are over 450 socially vulnerable families in Bar, meaning that a soup kitchen was more than necessary.

At the opening of the kitchen, the women of Bar were also supported by members of similar organizations from Budva and Petrovac:

 “This kind of humanitarian activity deserves much greater attention, and Bar should have been the meeting place for women from all cities in Montenegro tonight, as these women have given us all a lesson. We have to look around, see who lives next to us, and how, and realize that there are unfortunately hungry people around us. We are here in support of these wonderful Bar women”, said President of the organization Branka Cvorovic.