Sasho Zankin

Sasho has been a tireless member of the Pittsburgh Bulgarian community for years.  His dedication to preserving the Bulgarian culture through dance has created numerous opportunities for people (regardless of their origin and background) to enjoy beautiful dances or - if they are feeling up to the challenge - venture in and learn new skills themselves.  As parents of children of Bulgarian descent, we are forever grateful to Sasho for igniting their love for traditional Bulgarian dancing, creating strong bonds and beautiful memories for our kids.  

Sasho works hard to gather the Bulgarian community and create meaningful, beautiful experiences for Bulgarian abroad.  His leadership led to the creation of Na Megdana - an annual festival that brings a number of Bulgarian groups from North America and most recently from Bulgaria to perform.   As dancers, we crave the opportunity to perform and showcase our hard work - in a way, it ties all our efforts together and makes the work more meaningful.  The festival has been a tremendous success since its inception 5 years ago.  

This year, the festival started with an unfortunate event.  While rehearsing with our littlest students, Sasho had an accident which led to an ankle surgery and multiple other procedures to get him back to normal.  While he is back on his feet and dancing (I am sure much sooner than any of the doctor's expected!), the financial burden of the accident, the lost income, and the subsequent medical procedures necessary to keep him in shape is big.  

That is why I wanted to offer an opportunity to help the Zankin family. We realize that this is an extremely tough time for everyone due to the challenges we are all experiencing with the pandemic.  Some might be more affected than others and we completely understand that so this is by no means an obligation to donate. However, if you can help, we want to show Sasho that we appreciate his contributions to our community and our kids.   We stick together as a family in times of need!