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Time means more than money: the story of Anna
Along with other colleagues, Anna, an IT security specialist at Generali Česká pojišťovna, is engaged as volunteer for Vita et Futura Children’s Center in Prague. Since the beginning, Anna has supported the Centre many times, bringing her ideas and passion for helping the children.
When you are there with them, you can feel that the most significant help is not to send them money but to spend time together. Time means more than money.
When the Vita et Futura Fund staff showed us how the Children's Centre works and the children who live there, it has shattered my reality. Usually, one does not have the chance to be among handicapped children. We all tend to stay within our circle of friends and people we know.
Even though I knew that some of the children were born under challenging circumstances and were not doing well, it felt different to see them with my own eyes. This encounter was very crucial for me.
At the first activity, my colleagues and I helped clean and raking the garden where the children and mothers play and walk. I got to know the nurses in the Centre: they devote themselves to the children, with their hearts and souls. And the mothers try to take care of the children the best they can. However, I missed the aroma of homemade goodies and the atmosphere of a home. These children have clothes and toys, but I thought they might benefit from other things to support creativity and develop their imagination. That's why I brought them packs of papers, feathers, and other bits and pieces.
And before Christmas, I engaged some colleagues and friends to bake sweets and collect toys and materials children might wish. We obtained quite a lot of stuff and brought everything to the Centre.
These days, I'm not sitting on my hands: I'm collecting points to buy children's books, and I want to go there again!