October 23, 2023 – Over 700 thousand crowns will go to psychological help for children from Ukraine. For this purpose, a public collection was announced at the beginning of this October in connection with the second annual Crimean Platform Parliamentary Summit. It will be hosted tomorrow in Prague by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová. The fundraiser held under the banner of the Goodwill Committee – Olga Havel Foundation aims to raise funds for psychological assistance to Ukrainian children living in the Czech Republic and for their support after returning to their homeland from unauthorized detention in Russia.
The International Crimean Platform was established in 2021 at the initiative of President Volodymyr Zelensky and aims to bring together and coordinate all existing national and international efforts to de-occupy the Crimean peninsula. The second year of the parliamentary summit is hosted in Prague by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Markéta Pekarová Adamová. More than 50 parliamentary delegations from around the world confirmed their participation. “The issue of children forcibly abducted from Ukraine and illegally detained by the Russian occupiers far from home is one of the very important topics of the Crimean Platform Summit in Prague. If we are talking about the future of Ukraine, we must also talk about the fate of the children who embody the future of their nation. Therefore, I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart all those who showed good will and lent a helping hand in solidarity to the most vulnerable in times of need,” said the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová.
The public collection, which is held under the auspices of the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk and the Presidential Office of Ukraine, has raised over 200,000 crowns to date. This amount was then increased by another half a million by the Committee of Good Will – Olga Havel Foundation. The result of the collection was solemnly announced this evening in the Prague Castle Football Hall in the presence of President Petr Pavel, high-ranking constitutional officials and representatives of foreign delegations of legislators participating in the upcoming summit. It is possible to participate in the collection and continue to contribute to the support of Ukrainian children, for example, through the online form here.
With the collection, the Olga Havlova Foundation continues its previous varied charitable activities, when in the years 2022-2023 it supported 45 non-profit organizations in providing professional assistance to refugees from Ukraine, with a strong emphasis on professional psychological assistance. In cooperation with the AMIGA organization, individual psychological support has so far been provided to over 1,150 clients and group activities have taken place for more than 3,700 needy children. “Thanks to the proceeds from the collection, we will be able to continue to fund the help needed to cope with the traumas of war. We will help children regain a sense of security, support their communication skills and contribute to reducing emotional tension in an environment of trust and understanding. This way we can give them back their lost childhood,” added VDV Director Monika Granja.