On the first Sunday of Advent, we met with families from the We Are With You at the Right Time 2024 project. The invitation was accepted by 8 families. For five of them, it was our last meeting, so we asked them what their participation in the project gave them:
Michaela Vagaš: "You helped us in the most difficult moments, we didn't sit at home, we had fun, we had some distractions. The boys enjoyed hockey, events in the zoo, the weekend at Zlatá Idka was great. I don't go anywhere with the boys myself. So it was great. Thank you for your help."
Marta Szilágyiová: "You have pulled us out of the stereotype. Thanks to the support of the U. S. Steel Košice Foundation, Samko and I have been to several therapies and you can see the results for yourself. We will definitely continue with therapies, it makes a lot of sense."
Zdeno Beneš, whose family has grown with a son Tobias: "We felt very good. We are very grateful to you for the help you have provided us. Especially the exercises with Elianka are very financially demanding, we went through a number of inspections from Bratislava through Skalica to Košice... We enjoyed the events with you very much. When we went somewhere with you, we put our worries behind us, at least for a while."
The families of Erik Urban and Gabriel Kurilka also felt good in the project. The sports-minded girls enjoyed it especially at Zlatá Idka. We are already looking forward to meeting Laura and Sofia, who will definitely sign up for the USSK Winter Sports Games, for the race in Jahodná.
The families of Peter Veliký, Peter Azari and Jana Zlacká will continue the project next year.
Since St. Nicholas will be "walking" soon, he came to us in advance, brought packages with sweets to all the children and framed photos to their parents as a souvenir.
This meeting took place in the ZOO House, which is the educational center of the Košice Zoo. Therefore, they were welcomed on home soil by Eva Malešová, who also enclosed one free, family ticket to the zoo in the bags with gifts.
Josef Kincl , who also accompanied the families on the early evening tour of the zoo, explained not only to the children what will await them when they go for a walk in the garden these days - from the St. Nicholas event, to decorating Christmas trees with natural materials, the festively decorated Christmas ZOO, the open day and the day before Christmas Eve, giving gifts to animals. The braver children could "weigh" or pet the python. So not many of them were found. Josef also drew their attention to one of the largest frogs in the world, which they keep in a terrarium and they call it the Princess. None of the boys dared to kiss the frog and wait to see if it would turn into a real princess.
After the end of the pleasant meeting, several families took advantage of the invitation to the opening of the Košice Fairytale Christmas. They walked through the beautifully lit city and enjoyed the pre-Christmas atmosphere. A photo of Samko Szilágyi was sent to us by his mother Marta.
Photo: Ján Kisucký