The Cupid’s Spoon (Amorova žlica) project, run by the Croatian association UNUO, set out to become the first European gastronomy competition for people with disabilities – and ended up somewhere few could have imagined at the start: at an audience with the Pope.
The idea of Vedran Habel and UNUO was ambitious: take the competition out of a single hall and onto the road. At its heart was a mobile kitchen – a specially equipped van – which the campaign was raising funds for, and which would travel across European capitals. In each metropolis, local children with special needs would compete, turning the project into a travelling celebration of inclusion that grew from Croatia toward 27 European capitals. The online crowdfunding campaign on GoGetFunding set the bar high, at €130,000.
What ultimately brought the project to life were the sponsors and offline support – from Caritas as one of the first backers to a string of partners who joined along the way. It’s one of the key lessons of campaigns like this: the online campaign is the engine for visibility and trust, while the larger part of the funding often arrives through the relationships and sponsorships that visibility opens up.
The contribution of children was especially moving. Beyond competing in the van-kitchen from city to city, several of them launched their own small fundraising campaigns, chipping in in their own way – a gesture that gave the story extra weight and showed that inclusion starts with the youngest.
The project was recognised well beyond Croatia’s borders – among its first supporters was the Pontifical Council for Culture – and the story reached its symbolic peak with an audience with the Pope, an international seal on everything Cupid’s Spoon set out to do.
Behind it all stand 14 years of UNUO’s work: more than 1,000 workshops held, over 200 people with disabilities involved, and more than 90% of individual-training participants finding employment. Cupid’s Spoon is proof that a good idea, the right partners, and a community that shows up – from sponsors to children – can go further than the numbers promise at the start.