20 Years of UNYP Gala raises money to support one of our own.

The University of New York in Prague will be celebrating its 20^th anniversary with an event for students, alumni, friends and partners. As part of the celebration UNYP, has decided to team up with one of the most respected charities in the country, Foundation of the Charter 77 and Konto Bariéry, in an effort to give back to the UNYP community.  

The University will be charging attendees of the gala evening a symbolic ticket price for entry of 200Kc, of which, 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the cause of Martinka Kosorínová, a baby girl born after an in utero operation of split spine with the diagnosis of a waist down paralysis. The fundraiser is being organised by Martin Pavlíček, who is both alum and a teacher at UNYP and also Martinka’s godfather.

“When we were preparing the gala event for our 20^th anniversary we thought that it would be wonderful to use it as a tool for fundraising towards a charitable organisation. We knew it would be even better if we could help someone from our closest community. The story of little Martinka was exactly that, as she is the goddaughter of Martin Pavlíček, who is one of our most active alumni and a teacher at UNYP. His partnership with Konto bariery who has more than twenty years’ experience with helping handicapped people and their parents in difficult conditions is a guarantee for us that our support is heading in the right direction,” said Sotiris Foutsis, general manager of University of New York in Prague.

“I was really moved to see UNYP help my cause as every contribution or sharing of Martinka`s story is getting us closer to being able to afford the needed surgery. Unfortunately the insurance coverage was already depleted by and extremely difficult surgery which Martinka underwent in Belgium and which most probably saved her life. I owe big thank you to the UNYP community for helping Martinka to live a fulfilling and mobile life,” said Martin Pavlíček, Martinka`s godfather.

The symbolic cheque from UNYP will be handed over to the representative of Martinka`s family during the 20 years of UNYP Gala event which will take place on the 18^th of May at Zoom in the Prague Congress Centre.  The event is by invitation only as space is very limited for all students and alumni.

If you would like to find out more about the story of Martinka feel free to lookup her fundraising website https://martinpavlicek14.wixsite.com/helpformartinka or her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HelpForMartinka/