It was that time of the year again for 50 Moravian orphans to meet their favorite TV stars – and battle it out for victory on the bowling lanes of Planet Bowling in the Olympia Shopping Center in Brno.
Like every year, expectations were high amongst the kids for weeks in advance of the actual event. Comments Pavel Soltys, director of Detsky Domov Bojkovice: “When our kids heard about the Chance 4 Children (C4C) bowling event, we had a problem choosing who should go, as the whole orphanage suddenly turned into a place full of little angels. Everyone wanted to qualify!“
Headed up by renowned news anchor Karel Voříšek, TV Nova provided 10 team leaders for the attending children from 12 Moravian orphanages. While waiting their turn there was plenty of opportunity to interact, inspire and mentor the kids. It took only minutes for the walls of shyness to be broken down and communication to flow freely between everyone. The stars were touched by the sincerity of the children and the kids found out that even “Stars” are just ordinary and hard working people. “I fell in love with those kids. They are wonderful. If you ever organize similar events in the future, count me in.” commented Marta Ondráčková, who moderates TV Nova’s“Snídaně s Novou”.
Besides Karel and Marta, other TV Nova legends like Adam Halmoši, Iveta Kořínková, Marta Ondráčková, Martin Písařík, Bianka Ištoková, Daniel Brown, Míša Maurerová, Lukáš Javůrek and the X Factor music trio “Romantic” lent their support by heading up the rest of the teams. They all deserve a big thank you for their participation and sacrifice for the sake of the children.
Insiders know that Chance 4 Children’s bowling tournaments are not just aimed at having fun, even though that is, of course, an important part of it. Part of C4C’s Springboard to Life initiative, the tournaments are also an important integration and motivation vehicle for the attending children, most of whom were deprived of a “normal” childhood. The opportunity to interact in a personal way with their idols and TV stars, serves in many ways as a catalyst to strife to succeed in life. “What I learned today is that it takes just plain hard work to make it in life”, says Petr (16) who lived for most of his life in an orphanage. “With a little discipline, I think I can become anything I want to be regardless of where I grew up.”
Much like during previous events, the management of Planet Bowling had prepared sumptuous food and beverage facilities, a buffet and a freezer chock-full of ice cream for the children. “The kids can’t do all this competing on an empty stomach”, smiles Martin Kadlec, general manager of Planet Bowling, who takes his involvement in the C4C bowling events very seriously.
When it was all over, valuable prices were awarded to the winners, but no one went away without a special gift to commemorate the event for them. That also applied to the TV Nova team who were each awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from C4C. All in all, the entire budget of the event, a very sizeable 61.350 CZK, was raised through donations and good will contributions. All of us here at C4C would like to take this opportunity to extend a heartfelt “Thank You” to all those who contributed to make this a special and unforgettable day for these Moravian children:
Olympia Shopping Center – www.olympia-centrum.cz
Gekko promotion s.r.o. – http://gekko-promotion.trade.cz/
EuroCup Agency s.r.o. – www.ecupa.cz
OP Tiger, spol. s r.o. – www.optiger.cz
Planet Bowling – www.planet-bowling.cz
Lingea s.r.o -. www.lingea.cz
TV Nova – www.nova.cz
