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Charity at the palace

By Beth Potter
For The Prague Post
October 24th, 2007 issue

For those of us who are not royalty, it feels like a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have dinner in a palace.

Not just any old palace, mind you, but the Lobkowicz Palace, which is part of the Prague Castle complex, where the Expat Business Association held “The Legend of Maria Callas” charity event Oct. 20.
The evening’s entertainment was superb, the raised candelabra filled with eucalyptus and the roses at each table were sumptuous (as were the rooms’ appointments and the unrivalled views from the windows and balconies), the service was impeccable, and it was all for a good cause — disabled children helped by Česká maltézská pomoc, a charity that comes from the 900-year-old Knights of Malta organization in Europe. Michael W. Rainey, first secretary of the group in Prague, kept us entertained with stories of his travels in the Middle East before rushing off to watch over the final amounts bid during the live auction, which raised more than 426,000 Kč ($22,300).
Maltézská pomoc takes youth with social, mental and physical disabilities to a summer camp. It also integrates the children into schools and does many other good works in the Czech Republic. Around the world, the order is known for helping with earthquakes and other natural disasters.
An array of both live and silent auction items tempted the crowd, from an intimate dinner for six with Canadian Ambassador Michael Calcott (who took the stage to promise that guests will get to pet his dog’s nose and that his chef hangs out at the Four Seasons on his off days) and a dinner catered by the esteemed catering company Zátiší Group, to airline tickets and hotel stays in Moscow and Florida and art donated by famous sculptor Olbram Zoubek and Pakistan’s ambassador to the Czech Republic Athar Mahmood.
Rainey was joined by Jaroslav Štrof of the Order of Malta. Sitting next to Štrof was “Jaja” (but only her closest friends get to call her that) — aka Jarmila Motycka, a banker at Bank Gutmann Aktiengesellschaft in Vienna who confided that she graduated with an engineering degree but is now successful in the financial field.
We saw Karen Feldman in a stunning blue necklace. The author of Prague: Artěl Style is opening a new fine glass store in the center of town.
Prague Energy giant ČEZ was ably represented by Simona Kaňoková, its external communication specialist who also handles corporate donations, and others.  
We got the low-down on a monthly cigar-lovers event at Le Palais from Jesse Ronquillo, managing director of AM:PM Communications, who promised to let us sit in on the next exclusive gathering.
Michael Diedring, executive director of the CEELI Institute in Prague, sat next to U.S. Ambassador Richard Graber and his wife Alexandria. On the other side was Mark Anderson, outgoing president of EBA and organizer of the spectacular evening. Nestlé had a corporate table, as did Orco, the real estate heavy hitters. We also saw Rick Kovar, another EBA board member, and Jo Weaver, who recently stepped down from the British Chamber of Commerce.
Michael Vincenec, general manager at Interdean international relocation service promised us he would happily figure out a way to ship all of our recreational toys from the United States to Prague for a good price. He was joined by colleague Pierre Rumeau.
We also said hello to Bryn Perkins and his wife Katie, owner of the Prague Daily Monitor, and Tomáš Říha and his wife Jirina, deputy director at StemMark marketing research company.
All in all, it was a spectacular evening filled with some of the best the city has to offer.

Beth Potter can be reached at tempo@praguepost.com


Other articles in Tempo (24/10/2007):

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