News

OKD Foundation Will Support 191 Useful Projects

Ostrava (1 July 2009) – the OKD Foundation will support 191 projects of NGOs, municipalities and other applicants. Under the programmes “Pro zdraví” (Health), “Pro radost” (For Enjoyment), “Pro budoucnost” (For the Future) and  “Pro Evropu” (For Europe) the Foundation will distribute more than CZK 34 million. The Board originally planned to spend more than CZK 40 million. „We decided to keep some contingency money to be able to open one more call for projects if necessary and support the organisations affected by the recent flood,“ explained the Board Chairwoman Petra Mašínová. On top of that in a few days the Foundation will spend half a million from its account to help in dealing with the damage caused by the flood.

The biggest sum of more than CZK 14 million was allocated under the programme “Pro zdraví” to 78 social care, health care and charitable organisations. „It was clear to us that there will be the biggest demand. These organisations, which care for ill people, senior citizens and children coming from disadvantaged background lost many sponsors and donors due to the current economic crisis,“ explained the OKD Foundation Director Blanka Týřová.

The biggest grant of CZK 1 million under the programme “Pro zdraví” (Health) was received by the civic association “Filadelfie” to build a facility for fostering families at Oldřichovice u Třince. A similar amount will be transferred to the account of “Heřmánek”, which supports a semi-sheltered accommodation called “House in the Middle”. It helps the children who spent their lives in institutional care and now are young adults to learn how to live an independent life.  Thanks to the Foundation grant, the number of beds can be increased in St. Lukas´ Hospice and care for the disabled pupils can be improved at Mánesova school at Havířov. The programme will also support deaf and blind people, volunteers´ centre and the national hot line operation called “Safety Line”.

The OKD Foundation distributed more than CZK13 million among 50 projects under the programme “Pro budoucnost” (For the Future). The biggest grant of one million will be spent on the construction of a new modern playground for children at Karviná-Hranice and the same amount for the new stucco of Virgin Mary´s Church at Orlová. The remaining grants will be used for example for the staircase repair at Jezdíkovice chateau in Opava region, new tents and camp sites improvement for boy scouts, guides and young ramblers clubs in Ostrava, construction of several school fields and outdoor classrooms and educational paths around Karlovice in Bruntál region.

Under the programme “Pro radost” (For Pleasure) the OKD Foundation distributed more than one million among 46 projects. The supported projects include, for example, the folk music festivals and meetings of people living on both sides of the Czech-Polish border, music and theatre festivals, activities for Roma children and consultancy for fostering families.

The programme “Pro Evropu” (Europe), which is quite unique, will support 17 projects with about two million in total, which will compete for money from the EU funds. They include for example a project for building a cycling route at Karviná region, employment of Romas in the building industry and dealing with hop-tree in the Odra River basin.

The Foundation has published the list of all projects supported by grants on its website: www.nadaceokd.cz.