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On the occasion of his 40th birthday, Jan Sykora, head of Wood & Co., CR, raises 500.000 CZK for C4C’s popular programs for children at risk!

Birthday parties are fairly commonplace and they happen, on the average, once a year for every one of us... Every full decade, usually starting with our 30th happy return, celebrations get slightly more intense - the higher that first decimal gets, the more we party - normally.

Some defy that pattern, though.

Not being exactly your average sort of guy, Jan celebrated the 40th anniversary of his first gasp on planet Earth with a party that will be hard to beat when his 50th comes rolling around. (Well, knowing him, he may surprise us…) And, instead of bringing presents he had asked his guests and friends in advance  to kindly send a donation C4C’s way.

And all of Jan’s guests, most of them also not necessarily the mean average of society, responded with bravado and enthusiasm. At the time of this writing, the donation tally in favor of C4C is getting close to half a million CZK! Jan promised to make up the difference should it fall short of that mark. That’s remarkable!

“I had a great life so far, lacking nothing and being blessed in every way”, comments Jan with a smile, “and I thought this would be a great chance to make a difference for children less fortunate than our own. I know that Manfred (referring to C4C’s founder) has done a fantastic job with Chance 4 Children and I’m sure he will use these funds to help children in dire need to have a future.”

At his (relatively) young age, Jan is presently not only the chairman of the board of Wood & Co., CR, he also serves on the boards of directors of the Prague Stock Exchange, Amrest and the YPO. His illustrious birthday guests ranged from the Austrian Ambassador, his Excellency Dr. Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff and wife Margrit, to colorful personalities as popular fashion designer and Haute Couture icon Osmany Lafite and his partner Guy Gheysens. Far from being “in-betweens” the rest of the crowd was made up of movers and shakers of Czech society, socialites and prominent business men such as Sanjiv Suri of Zatisi Group - who deserves a special mention here as the top donor of the evening! Jenny Maher, wife of Vodafone Qatar’s late CEO Grahame Maher, and head of the Qatar Vodafone Foundation branch, flew in from as far as Qatar to surprise Jan on his special day.

Last but not least, we’d like to extend a heart-felt thank you to Jan’s lovely wife, Ericka, who single-handedly organized the wonderful evening and never dropped the ball even once. It came off like clockwork…

And as the celebration drew to a close in the wee hours of the following day, one couldn’t help but feel to have been part of a special and meaningful evening, surpassing an ordinary birthday celebration by a long shot. Knowing Ericka, she’ll probably start prepping for the 50th right away…

Thank you, Jan, Ericka (and everybody else), for caring!