Shalom, the Organisation of Jews in Bulgaria (OJB) will make a donation under the motto Save a Life, Give Life to the maternity ward of Sveti Ivan Rilski hospital in Doupnitsa, Focus news agency reported.

The initiative is just one act of a series of good deeds, featured in a national campaign titled Do Good, which commemorates the 65th anniversary from the saving of Bulgarian Jews during World War 2.

"This is an expression of the community's gratitude, through doing good in return," Pepa Ilieva, Shalom's PR representative, told The Sofia Echo.

It is also an adequate way to inform the Jewish community around the world about this gesture of humanism, civil conscience, ethnic and religious tolerance prevalent in contemporary Bulgarian society, OJB said in a statement to the media.

Ilieva said that the campaign started on March 8 2008 with sports activities “for the children and young people of Sofia,” organised by OJB. All ethnic groups were invited, she said, and the event was meant to symbolise ethnic tolerance.

The organisers initiated charity events in Lom and Montana, where they donated a TV set to a kindergarten and a computer to an orphanage.

A future good deed includes the donation of money for the renovation of the computer lab at Sofia's seminary Sveti Ivan Rilski.

All events will be used as a counteraction against any act of xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance should such occur in Bulgaria, the media statement said.

As a brief historical reference: in 1943, Bulgaria, represented by Tsar Boris III, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and Bulgarian society, refused to sent its Jewish citizens to the death camps upon Hitler's demand. As a results, 50 000 Jews were saved from the country's pre-WW2 territories.