Czech Republic

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Address: Vladislavova 12, Prague 1, 110 00, Czech Republic
Telephone: +420 296 243 330 Fax: +420 296 243 333
Email: sekretariat@charita.cz
www.caritasczech.org

Caritas Czech’s rich history of helping the poor and the suffering began during the First Republic in 1919. Since then, despite a moratorium of its services during the communist era, Caritas Czech Republic has become the biggest nongovernmental provider of social and health services in the Czech Republic and has expanded its projects abroad to include humanitarian aid and development in countries such as Indonesia, Mongolia, Cambodia, Moldova, Serbia, Kosovo, Ethiopia and Zambia.

Caritas Czech Republic engages in over 300 social projects and has become a fixed part of humanitarian aid projects around the world. Domestically, they opened hundreds of social and health services to foreigners in distress and established the first hospice to attend to the terminally ill. Its grassroots approach to raise charitable donations includes the largest volunteer project in the Czech Republic called the “Three-Kings Collection” which is a collection of 14,727 cashboxes that generate millions of Euros every year to support local charities, diocesan projects, and provides relief to humanitarian aid projects such as the devastating South East Asia tsunami in 2004.

Whether at home or abroad, Caritas Czech Republic has been instrumental in launching disaster and relief programmes. Following the severe floods in the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, the agency distributed food, water, clothing, medical care, and planned reconstruction activities. Internationally, for 4 years Caritas Czech Republic collaborated with several communities in the Indonesian region of Aceh to help them achieve a sustainable livelihood after enduring through a 30 year-long armed conflict and a devastating Tsunami in 2004.

Caritas Czech Republic’s main office in Prague employs a staff of approximately 6,900 employees, 5,220 long-term volunteers and more than 50,000 volunteers for the Three Kings Collection. Caritas Czech consists of 8 dioceses and about 350 parishes that all sit within the auspices of the Czech Bishops Conference.

In 1995, Caritas Czech Republic became a full member of Caritas Europa and the Caritas Internationalis confederation. Key to the success of Caritas Czech Republic has been the ongoing collaboration work with the Caritas network, such as Caritas Spain, Caritas Germany, Caritas Australia, Caritas Mongolia, Catholic Relief Services USA, Caritas Denmark, Caritas Italy, Cordaid Netherlands, CAFOD (Caritas England and Wales) and Caritas Ireland (Trócaire). In 2006 for example, in cooperation with Caritas Switzerland, Caritas Czech organised the construction of two schools destroyed by an earthquake in Pakistan.

To help Ukrainian refugees

 

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