The American Research Center in Sofia co-sponsored "Volunteer Day", May 18, 2013, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce and the Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation. This is the sixth edition of the AmCham/BCAF "Volunteer Day" and the first time ARCS has been involved. The purpose of "Volunteer Day" is to promote the idea that individuals and companies should contribute towards maintaining their cities. AmCham/BCAF recruited more than 600 people nation-wide to clean parks, neighborhoods and archaeological sites in the major cities of Bulgaria. Most of the volunteers were recruited through company representatives and worked as teams in designated areas.

The opening of the Sofia Volunteer Day took place near the Lily Pond of Borisova Gradina Park. AmCham Executive Director, Valentin Georgiev, and BCAF Director, Elitsa Barakova, gave live interviews on Bulgarian National Television. ARCS Director, Eric De Sena, and Senior Commercial Officer of the US Embassy in Bulgaria, Barbara Lapina gave welcome speeches together with Georgiev and Barakova.

Twelve ARCS volunteers spent the morning and early afternoon cleaning the "West Gate of Serdica" archaeological site. This important archaeological site is currently being excavated and preserved by Bulgarian scholars under the auspices of the Municipality of Sofia. ARCS thanks Boyana Boyanova, Andriy Fomin, Eric Halsey, Anton Kazakov, Mina Megalla, Emil Nankov, Pepa Nedelcheva-Megalla, Elitsa Popova, Whitney Snead, Stacy Topovzova and Oliver Williams for their efforts!