The war in Ukraine, resulting in millions of Ukrainian refugees, brought the ISP community together after two years of COVID isolation. Last Saturday, April 30, 2022, ISP hosted the first Party in Park and Fun day / Veselyy den.
Party in the Park was a community event to raise money and awareness for refugees coming from Ukraine into Prague. The Fun day / Veselyy den, following the Party in the Park, was an afternoon of activities for local Ukrainian refugee families organized and run by ISP students, families, and employees.
Schools are learning communities. Feeling a sense of safety and belonging within that community is absolutely necessary for learning to flourish. Being able to reconnect as a community and extending our community to the refugees living here gives us all some threads of hope during these difficult times.
Stalls were set up by different student-run organizations, such as Kurandza, Jako Doma, Amity, or ISPrint, and each club planned and hosted their own activity to raise money. From pieing teachers to face painting, a total of 70,000 czk were raised in total, which will be donated to Dignity and Amity, two partner non-profit organizations specializing in aiding refugees.
“I want to thank you and ISP for your support of AMITY over this past weekend. We are incredibly grateful for the school’s generosity and the invitation to be a part of such a wonderful community event on Saturday. The (Ukrainian) families we are helping enjoyed the party after the school event so much.“
“I would like to let you know that we have decided to allocate the 35.000.- to cover the rent, utilities and Wifi for the month of May for four families living in Prague 7″.
– Kim, ISP Parent and founder of AMITY
Fun Day / Veselyy den
Following the Party in the Park, ISP hosted “Fun day / Veselyy den” for Ukrainian families, hosting more than 50 children plus their family members connected to the ISP Community (ISP Families, Amity, ZŠ Nebušice, Global Pre-School, etc.) All of our guests seemed to have really enjoyed the afternoon!
While the kids played games and tried to fill out the activities card, their parents enjoyed refreshments prepared and donated by our community members, learned the basics of Czech or just had a nice time with other guests. There were many activities prepared and run by all Upper School clubs and teachers from across ISP.
“For the past two months all of the ISP clubs worked very hard on the program for both Party in the Park and Fun day / Veselyy den.
I would like to thank all who participated in both events:
ISP Clubs and ISP teachers for organizing activities for ISP kids as well as for kids from Ukraine;
SCA members for refreshment preparation; and
A special thanks to Ms. Horakova, Mr. Penn and Mr. Monks!
You all did an amazing job!“
– Pavlina Koukalova, ISP Community Service Coordinator
It takes a village
For those who were unable to join the Party in the Park, you will get a feel for the ISP community connection that we’ve all been missing in the photos and videos below . A huge thank you to the collective efforts of our amazing ISP parents, students, and employees who helped make this event so successful.
“As a community we’ve been very separated up to now, and we felt there was a real demand, a real need for our community to come together for something. Just come together, meet each other, and relax. I mean after two years of COVID, we really wanted to bring those individuals together- that’s teachers, parents and students.”
– Joe Monks, Activities Director
The Magic of Music: Our musicians, young and old, added wonderful ambiance to the Party
Something for everyone of every age: Beautiful weather and a plethora of options meant everyone enjoyed the day.
Good food and drinks always make for a good party
The “Piece de résistance” was definitely the “pie in the face.” Check out these slow motion videos of what has been the talk of the town this week.
As a nice memory, you can view more pictures here.
Thank you to one and all for reconnecting as a community and supporting the Ukrainian refugees in our local community. With the large turn out, there is no doubt that an event like this will be likely to happen again, and we look forward to it!
