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Press Release: Time4Sharing
December 23, 2005
SLOVAKIA -- The First Lady of Slovakia, Mrs. Silvia Gašparovicová, has been named the recipient of an International
Humanitarian award by an NGO which raises awareness for underprivileged children.
Time4sharing.org, a goodwill movement that empowers unfortunate children through the sharing of quality time, has
presented her with the "Goodwill Ambassador Award for 2005- 2006" for her support in two events that
took place in Slovakia.
Time4Sharing.org has organized over 100 special functions for over 10,000 underprivileged children in its five
year history. The charitable movement recognizes extraordinary people in communities where volunteers are active,
and in the case of 2005, Mrs. Gašparovicová was unanimously nominated by the philanthropic committee which
announced her achievement. "She has shown through caring action her support, her time, her example, not only
with Time4Sharing, but in so many other educational projects for underprivileged children in her country and her
activity with her own caring foundation," said Vivian Boulos Tolan, President of Time4Sharing.org.
Former recipients of this award include Dr. Timothy Shriver, nephew of former US President John F. Kennedy, for
his work with Time4Sharing.org and Special Olympics in the Middle East, of which he is worldwide president. The
award was also given to Mrs. Andre Lahoud, First Lady of Lebanon, for her collaboration with Time4Sharing.org who
erected a 'Monument of Hope For Peace' in Beirut, and the United Nations campaign, "Trees Instead of Mines"
with 650 Time4Sharing.org volunteers replanting a forest in formally land mined areas of Southern Lebanon and erecting
a children's park, where previous devastation had occurred during less peaceful times.
The most recent Time4Sharing.org project in which Mrs. Gašparovicová endorsed was "Lonely Toys for
Hopeful Hearts" which called to the public at large to donate toys, books and DVDs to children's homes nationwide,
as toys which were no longer being enjoyed by the original children they were purchased for , and were, according
to the theme of this project, lonely toys. "Our organization does not solicit donation of money, but instead,
acts of goodwill and donations of time to raise awareness for kids in need," continued Boulos-Tolan.
The project was adopted by two additional country operations, Malta and Lebanon, where active volunteers rang the
bells of hope. Thanks to Mrs. Gašparovicová support, Thousands of children from three countries were the
recipients of community donations to them that would have never happened without her enthusiastic endorsement.
Radio broadcasters, web portals and internet companies volunteered media space to announce the project and rallied
public support for this community action project in three countries, virtually overnight.
The idea of recycling formally loved toys to new children was taken up by an army of participants throughout the
countries. Time4Sharing.org organized drop points for contributors to place their offerings, which in turn would
be re-distributed to needy homes for children less fortunate in those nations.
Time4Sharing.org organized the project in two phases, before 21 December which was dedicated to deliveries before
the holidays to these kids, and all contributions after that date until Jan 10, 2006, would be placed into homes
after the normal holiday season. "The response was encouraging and we will adopt it as one of our annual events
from now on," said Petra Reisova, spokesperson for the charity.
The presentation of the award occurred during a televised event honouring sports stars in the national football
associations' annual ceremony, whereby children who were sponsored by Time4Sharing.org, had been invited to meet
the stars of the national football association, and legendary international football star, Michel Platini.
On hand for the ceremony was also President of Platinum Resorts International , Mr. Michael Tolan, who also flew
over to the Slovakia award ceremony to congratulate the First Lady and the President of the Slovak Republic, Mr.Ivan
Gasparovic, to express the personal thanks of the entire body of volunteers from its five nation presence.
Mr. Tolan, one of the founders of Time4Sharing.org, had been invited the previous year to Slovakia to visit the
Presidential Palace, with a group of 50 children in another event, "Hope for Tatra's", also endorsed
by the First Lady.
Time4Sharing.org is a movement of dedicated professionals to raise awareness and to share precious time with 'children
that matter' wherever timeshare holidays are either managed or marketed and raising fun in the process.
"The National Football Team in Slovakia has also done quite a lot to make many of our projects work,"
said Petra Reisova, Time4Sharing.org coordinator for Central Europe.
Mr. Dusan Tittel, a national football celebrity and winner of many awards on and off the field, is also a Time4Sharing
volunteer, and was the charity partner for "Kids Need Goals" as are so many of the caring sports celebrities
of the national football association in Slovakia. "His cooperation in Slovakia and in raising awareness for
the charity movement has been rivalled by very few," said Tolan, "but the Jury of 16 members of the committee
voted the First Lady for our top honour this year."
"We were pleased to also award the Slovak National Football Association an award also for being outstanding
role models for kids," he added.
At the reception, Mrs. Gašparovicová, also a mother of two, pledged to lend her support to Time4Sharing.org
2006. "One of the projects discussed was 'Operation: Computers4Kids' to be launched in the spring of 2006
in Slovakia, encouraging local companies to donate direct to needy homes that care for underprivileged children,
any new or used computers and to offer teaching of computer skills to these kids who deserve a fair chance in
life," said Reisova. "All of our events include the three ingredients of fun, fantasy and luxury, that
timeshare members around the world enjoy everyday."
Source: Time4Sharing