Our company and the Children's Home in Podolínec have been friends for 20 years! We came to this conclusion last Friday after five minutes of intensive communication, a loud exchange of opinions and counting on the fingers of both hands. We are connected by a lot of beautiful experiences, shared moments at events, at hockey matches, on trips... During that time, a whole generation of children grew up and matured.

And because friends tend to visit, we were very happy to accept the invitation of the director of the home, Štefan Straka, to an event that they prepared for all their children. In a beautiful environment, on a hill above the town, from which there was a beautiful view not only of Podolínec, but also of the High Tatras.

Adults and children especially warmly welcomed the visit of the wife of the Deputy President of U. S. Steel Košice, Allison Revello. She was already in the home for Christmas, in the summer it was her first visit and it also included our adventurous ride up the hill, on a tractor.

"We deliberately do not make a day for children on June 1, because there are many events everywhere then, but we leave it until the end of the school year," says Danka Štefková and adds: "The most difficult thing was to manage this hilly terrain. The headmaster, together with the educators and the children, had to carry everything.  We cook goulash, grill, we have a lot of different cakes here and all of it had to be brought from the children's home and taken to the cottage. We wanted the children to spend a nice day in nature."

The center of the action was a cozy cottage. A few years ago, the children's home received a very generous sponsorship gift – an envelope containing 200,000 crowns from a lady they had never seen before. She came to the children's home with an envelope and had only one request, that the money help her build something meaningful for the children.

So they bought and built a cottage on land given to them by the city. The children like this place very much and during the summer they also go here with the educators for night camping.

In addition to great food (two types of goulash, grilled chicken and pork, sausages, tzatziki... and delicious cakes) the children were looking forward to the competitions.

The competition stations were invented and provided by educators. The children caught fish, shot from a bow, from a slingshot, threw flying discs into the trash, but also put together pictures and puzzles. For each completed station, the children received stamps and when they collected seven of them, they could choose a sweet reward.  "We didn't want winners, we wanted every child to get involved, so that they would be happy that they succeeded in something,"  said Danka.

Allison also brought a sweet reward to all the children and handed over backpacks with various small items to the director Štefan Straka, which were then divided into individual groups and families by the educators.

How the children liked the event:

Samo Čonka: "It's very nice here today. I competed, I'll do some other disciplines.  So far, I'm doing well. What I like the most is that we "dropped" out of school. And I'm already looking forward to the holidays, we're going on vacation to Croatia."

Laura Oračková: "I really like it here. I have already tried several competitions, the best was archery. Even though I wasn't doing very well."

Erik Mirga: "I was there just for the reward. I liked the competitions, most of all as we shot from a bow and threw a plate. And I managed to score."

At the end, the children were addressed by the Director of External Relations, Ján Bača. He thanked for the warm welcome, great food and great fun.  The children were most pleased with his invitation at the end of the summer to Košice, to an event organized for them by the administrator of the U. S. Steel Košice Foundation, Slávka Tvrdoňová,  in the Sports and Entertainment Complex on Alejova Street on August 28.

"It was very pleasant here. Everyone was having fun, laughing... It's great to celebrate children, they are our future," Allison summed up her impressions of the event.