As the holidays approach, we would like to express our gratitude to Via’s friends, partners and donors for their trust. We would also like to express our thanks to the many active citizens who have engaged those around them in improving their neighborhoods and the Czech landscape during this challenging year.
As the holidays approach, we would like to express our gratitude to Via’s friends, partners and donors for their trust. We would also like to express our thanks to the many active citizens who have engaged those around them in improving their neighborhoods and the Czech landscape during this challenging year.
This generosity and civic engagement made for a busy year at Via!
Over the course of 2022, Via:
- supported more than 430 neighborhood initiatives with grants tonaling CZK 16,5 million ($722,000)
- received a record 900 inquiries for support from people improving their communities
- supported 139 projects integrating Ukrainian refugees into Czech communities
- enabled over 1,000 NGOs to receive gifts totaling CZK 700 million ($30 million) through our online funding portal Darujme.cz
I’d like to tell you about some of the people who I met this year in different parts of the country. These individuals have a lot in common with you – they care about the Czech Republic. Their journeys started with support from Via Foundation and its donors.
STORY NO. 1
“The trust that donors place in us so that we can create a better community is the most important thing for us,” says Matěj Forman of the Slon Association in Suchdol, Prague. With support from Via Foundation donors, he and other residents created a community garden. They also worked with the mayor of Suchdol to open a community center in the town hall, which hosts diverse activities such as concerts, a neighborhood embroidery club and courses to help Ukrainian refugees. Suchdol shows that when people in a community work together, they don’t need to rely so heavily on government aid during crises. They can help one another in many ways.
STORY NO. 2
Manětín is a charming little town where members of a local association area restoring a faded yet beautiful outdoor swimming area. Originally constructed in the 1950s, it gradually fell into disrepair. The association rented the swimming area from the town and operates it and is gradually transforming it into a popular summer gathering place for locals.
STORY NO. 3
During recent municipal elections, Vendula Machová became the Deputy mayor in the town of Tachov. Earlier this year, she took part in Via’s program for community leaders who want to run for local office. The program helps people like Vendula, who seek to serve their communities from town hall, and prepares them for their new roles as local elected officials. Thanks to our donors, we support dozens of local leaders like her.
STORY NO. 4
Martina Seidlerová is another local leader reviving a remote area of the Czech Republic. She returned to the town of Jeseník after college and started a town market and art festival with a Via grant. I met a lot of these regional movers and shakers when I visited Jeseník, which is my native region. There are more and more of them every year and in 2022, thanks to donors, Via supported over 400 of their projects. Most of them are probably unaware that they are the lifeblood of democracy in the Czech Republic.
STORY NO. 5
Zdeňka Morávková is yet another change-maker in the Jesenik region. She and other local residents have restored the “Dancing House” in the Račí Valley. This historical dance hall was nearly demolished, yet today it is full of life and dancing again. She is also helping develop a school in the small village of Vápenná, where schoolchildren designed and built a shelter and bell tower on the site of a village that used to exist here. The children inaugurated the shelter during a community festival, which was supported with a small grant from Via Foundation.
STORY NO. 6
Via’s support extends even further than Jeseník – to the tiny village of Bílá Voda on the Czech-Polish border. Bílá Voda is home to a monastery, a mental health hospital, a museum and a pub. Alongside Czechs, more than 100 Romanians live here, along with Slovakians, Poles, a Frenchman and an Englishman, all of whom have been led by fate to a place that is far away from everywhere. But they stick together and with Via’s support, they have created a vibrant community gathering space.
To me, it is this place that perhaps best captures the vision behind Via’s work. Seeking out people who, often behind the scenes and with patience, uplift their communities and ultimately, the country as a whole. They initiate change, are the glue of society and inspire others with their energy and humility.
STORY NO. 7
The seventh story is yours. Because you also enable similar stories full of hope. Thank you for making this work possible.
Wishing you the best in health and spirit in 2023.
Zdenek Mihalco,
Executive Director, Via Foundation
