BILLERICA — After years of dedicated fundraising and organizing, the Bulgarian Center of New England (BCNE) has finally found a permanent home.
In February, the center purchased the former Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses located at 310 River St. The building, once renovated, will house the community’s church and Bulgarian school, and will play host to the center’s other programs. It will be the first time the community pillars will be under the same roof.
Founded in 1999, the Bulgarian School focuses on teaching Bulgarian language, history, tradition and culture. It became a formal organization in 2001 but has never had a permanent home. Over the years the school has had locations in Woburn, Cambridge, Belmont and Waltham.
Similarly the church has moved from location to location.
In 2012 while at a community picnic celebrating Saint George’s Day, David Flashenberg, president of the Bulgarian Center of New England, brought the leaders of the local organizations together to discuss the idea of finding a permanent home for a Bulgarian community center.
Flashenberg, whose spouse is Bulgarian, is Jewish and grew up going to temple, school and community events at the same building.
“The Bulgarian community didn’t really have anything like that,” he said. “It just made sense to try to get everybody together.”
According to Flashenberg and Rossen Dimitrov, president of the Bulgarian school, the Bulgarian community in Boston — and the United States at large — is fairly young.
“Until communism ended there wasn’t a big influx of Bulgarians in the states,” Flashenberg said.
As the community grew, different organizations started to form, like the church and the school.
Over the years, Dimitrov saw the school grow. Where once the student population was made up of children born in Bulgaria, the population is now mostly American-born children. To see younger generations continue to embrace and teach their Bulgarian heritage has been particularly striking for Dimitrov.
The school is credited through the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and teaches students starting at 3 years old and also offers classes for K-8 students. The classes are offered on Saturdays and families travel from across the state to attend.
“The average family travels 30 miles one way,” Dimitrov said.
In determining how to create a home for the Bulgarian community, the BCNE looked to others like the Greek and Jewish communities.
“In all of these cases we noticed that the school being a strong organization is important for building a strong community as well,” Dimitrov said.
In addition to school and church, the BCNE offers other programs like Bulgarian language classes for adults.
According to Nadia Ullman, who is a BCNE board member and Bulgarian language instructor, the class is predominantly made up of Americans who have Bulgarian spouses or have some other connection to Bulgaria.
“This is basically doing my share of preserving the culture and adding a little bit to the wider community,” said Ullman. “I absolutely believe it makes us richer, more fulfilled when we share in our own individual backgrounds.”
Everything from the teachers to the BCNE’s leadership is volunteer-based.
“The appreciation that we get from our students and the wider community about doing this work is like nothing else,” Ullman said.
According to Flashenberg, the BCNE’s efforts have gotten the attention of the Bulgarian government. The consul in New York will be coming to show support, he said.
Currently the River Street building sits vacant. The BCNE is working with an architect to draft plans and hopes to start construction in the next 30 days to open by the fall.
The building’s renovation will take place in two phases, Flashenberg said. The first phase will create four permanent classrooms and the upstairs hall will be fitted with subdividers to create four more classrooms when needed. The hall will also house church services.
The BCNE’s ultimate vision for the building is to expand it to create dedicated, separate spaces for the church and classrooms.
When open, the center hopes to welcome those in the broader community.
“We invite the entire community not just the Bulgarians to join us for celebrations, functions and come visit us when we’re open,” Flashenberg said.
