Maxim Behar Joins Ice Bucket Challenge to Help Flood-Stricken Mizia
Maxim Behar, founder and CEO of Sofia-based PR agency M3 Communications Group Inc.,part of global Hill+Knowlton Strategies Group, on Wednesday joined the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Bringing a Bulgarian tone to the international initiative, rather than taking a dousing with the purpose of raising money -- and bringing awareness -- to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, Maxim Behar has decided to channel the collected donations to the suffering people of flood-stricken Mizia.
His idea was backed by the Bulgarian Red Cross (BRC).
“We fully support this project, we thank Maxim and his friends and we hope they will have thousands of followers around the country,” BRC Director Hristo Grigorov said.
Mizia, a town in northwestern Bulgaria some 200 km from Sofia, was flooded by a swollen river following torrential rains in early August. The flood, which Maxim Behar has described as the biggest tragedy in Bulgaria today, claimed two lives. According to the latest data available, 23 houses had collapsed while another 50 are about to fall apart.
Behar, challenged by his colleague Delyan Momchilov and ‘#FollowMeToSofia’, in turn challenged Bulgarian jazz singer Ruth Koleva, the European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva and Levon Hampartzumian, chairman of the Bulgarian Bank Association and UniCredit Bulbank CEO.
The nominees who have accepted the challenge, have to donate BGN 10 (EUR 5) and douse themselves in ice water. Those who reject the challenge, have to donate BGN 100 (EUR 50) and are not allowed to challenge other people. Drawing an ever growing number of participants boosts interest towards the initiative and is an efficient tool for raising donations for various causes.
Worldwide, the Ice Bucket Challenge has drawn celebrities like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, David Beckham, Steven Spielberg and Bulgarian tennis star Grigor Dimitrov, among others.