December 3, 2021
News
The Diocesan Caritas Brno has the largest revenue of the charity collection in its history. The inhabitants of the Czech Republic sent there over 345 million Czech crowns to people affected by the June tornado in South Moravia.
"I have been working for Caritas for thirty years. I do not remember such a wave of solidarity, people sent 205 million crowns in the first weekend after the incident. For example, we collected about 60 million crowns during the floods, similar to the earthquake in Haiti or Indonesia," the director of the Brno Caritas Oldřich Haičman compares the former revenues with 345 million crowns, which the Caritas collected for this purpose.
Help from Czech Television
"People in the South Moravia know us, the Diocesan Caritas Brno has over 1,600 employees. We also operate in communities where there was a tornado, so we were there almost immediately,” explains the director both the donors‘ trust and the speed with which they were able to help those affected. He also praises the cooperation with the public Czech Television. "Two hours after the incident, our account number was running on the screen. Based on previous experience, I expected the collection to raise about 20 million, which we would use for direct and follow-up assistance. What a surprise awaited us after the weekend when we found out in the bank that it was ten times as much on the account. Enormous solidarity and trust in Caritas took our breath away."
Four criteria
The money came from small amounts to large corporate donations, more than excess of five million crowns. The entire amount was made up of about 153,000 individuals, parishes, organizations, and companies. In addition, Caritas also received unquantified amounts of material aid, which the volunteers distributed directly to the affected households. New appliances are still being handed over to homes, where repairs are only now being completed.
"The very next day after the tornado, when our people ran into the field, we set four criteria to determine the extent of damage to the property: destroyed roofing, the entire roof, the devastation of the house and the building for demolition. According to this, we allocated financial assistance on the first day, from 50,000 for roofing to 300,000 in the event of demolition. We verified the owner in the cadastre. The money could and had to come very quickly. There was no need to wait for the water to subside as during the floods. In less than a week after the tornado, we distributed an amount of over fifty million crowns,“ the director explains a different approaches to the distribution of aid compared to other humanitarian organizations.
Caritas wanted to serve everyone, but especially to those who lost their homes completely or belong to the socially disadvantaged, such as single parents, seniors, or families who care for disabled or infirm members. The decision is not made by the individual, the commission votes on the distribution of aid.
Social housing
These days, Caritas is preparing to hand over another twenty million after 225 million crowns have found their recipients among those affected by the disaster. "We still have a financial reserve, because we would like to build a social home in Mikulčice or Hrušky for those who are unable to rebuild their house and live somewhere with relatives, and at the same time would like to return to their village," says Oldřich Haičman.
The Caritas approach is also unique in that it still has a permanent coordinator in each tornado-affected community who gathers requests and identifies people's needs. "We want to work like this for at least a year. Our help is permanent, after the floods, we even helped for several years. The media will lose interest and other organizations will leave, but Caritas remains, that belongs to us," concludes the director of the Diocesan Caritas Brno.
Taken from the Catholic Weekly No. 46 with the consent of the editors
Photo: Richard Bouda
Author: Jiří Macháně
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