St Nicholas Day present-giving for the Tachov Children’s Home

The Kolowratek Endowment Fund has for many years supported the Children’s Home in Tachov. The traditional St. Nicholas party was held on this occasion in the Kolowrat Palace in Prague.

On Thursday, 1^st December, representatives from the Tachov Children’s Home also took part in a public event organized by the National Theatre on the Václav Havel Square piazzetta, connected with another charitable project under the title ‘Give Kids a Chance’.

The Chair of the Board of Directors of the Endowment Fund Kolowratek, JUDr Dominika Kolowrat-Krakowsky, together with the Board of Governors Members Mgr. Eliška Barthelemy and JUDr František Vyskočil, PhD welcomed guests from the Tachov Children’s Home headed by Director Zdeněk Kropáč in the historical premises of the Kolowrat Palace.

The children expressed interest in the Kolowrat-Krakowsky Family history, as well as in the activities of the Endowment Fund Kolowratek. After the visit they all got their St. Nicholas gifts. Bags of treats were of course also prepared for those children who couldn’t visit Prague. The gifts, alongside with many greetings and best wishes for a lovely Advent time, a pleasant Christmas and a felicitous New Year, were then delivered to them by their friends.

However, the Kolowratek Endowment Fund had one more surprise in store for the Tachov Children’s Home representatives. This was a cheque for 60 thousand crowns! The sum had been collected by the Kolowrat Forests staff at the Přimda Gamekeepers’ Ball. These were the proceeds from admission, raffle tickets, and the auction of a culled European deer.

The proceeds were, as last year, designated for the supplementary or leisure activities of the children, including a variety of clubs, trips, and sojourns in the mountains.

Even before all the get-together participants went off to the National Theatre piazetta, recently renamed the Václav Havel Square, they sang several folk songs and carols accompanied by the Kaštánek music ensemble.

This was in fact a small rehearsal for what awaited them during the Give Kids a Chance programme, which included renditions by representatives from other Children’s Homes.

Indeed, these very Children’s Homes were the beneficiaries from the sale of Christmas decorations, decorated by National Theatre artists on the Square itself.

Its Director Prof. MgA Jan Burian meted out some Christmas punch, and thus all the participants left the proceedings pleasantly attuned to the Christmas ambience.