A group in the Šumperk region is turning a former parish building into a community place, while near Brno a group is using an old campfire circle to bring people together. Sharing local history can also connect people. In this look at our most recently supported Living Communities projects, you can read about how groups of engaged citizens are restoring neglected monuments such as a castle and historical building and building interpretative trails to revitalize their communities.

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Marie Horová was originally from the Carpatho-Ukraine but spent her adult life in Prague. She and her husband established a donor fund at Via Foundation in 2006 and Marie Horová later remembered Via Foundation in her will with a gift of $50,000. Through their gifts, we supported 28 educational projects for children in Carpatho-Ukrainebetween 2006 and 2017.This interview with Jiří Bárta about Marie Horová, Via’s first legacy donor, explains how it all came to pass.

Via: How did it all begin?Read More

For the twenty-second year in a row, Via Foundation presented the Via Bona Awards to people and firms which are giving back to their communities. The winners were chosen by the public through online voting. Via Foundation presented the awards at a gala evening held at the Bio Oko cinema in Prague on May 22, 2019. Awards were presented in four main categories – Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Drive, Good Company, Personal Engagement and Young Personal Engagement – and a new Good Neighborhood award was presented as well. The award ceremony took place during “Neighborly Week”, an initiative which Via Foundation debuted this year.

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Children and youth have been experiencing philanthropy first-hand through Via Foundation’s Young Philanthropists program for seven years now. The program gives them a chance to organize their own benefit events to raise money for a cause of their choice. Teams of children and young people hold concerts, crafts fairs, exhibitions or sporting events to help e.g. disabled people, senior citizens or animals in need. More and more often, a desire to influence environmental issues drives their choice of cause and how they organize their events.

Via Foundation awards each team a small grant of $200 to help cover event organization costs and matches the funds each team raises up to a maximum of $850.

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We are excited to announce another round of Living Communities projects! We have a team of people in Únětice u Prahy cleaning out a spring and creating a meadow park, artists in Pilsen developing a community garden, a group in Malvazinky in Prague saving a historical villa, volunteer firefighters in Rostěnice holding a year-long array of community events, a citizens’ group in Vimperk trying to save a local lake from development and a campaign to address issues with the Prague zoning plan.Read More

The Czech and Slovak School of Pittsburgh (Český a Slovenský Svět) has joined Via Foundation’s program for Young Philanthropists (Dobro-druzi).

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Will residents of a housing estate in Frýdek-Místek find consensus to revitalize their open space? Will people in the small town of Ráječko perform a musical? Is it possible to energize a remote village that has no pub or playground? And can people from several towns join forces to reduce negative impacts from a highway bypass project?

Our answer is a resounding YES! We believe that the community leaders and groups supported in the first 2019 round of Living Communities can make their communities better places to live and strengthen neighborly ties.Read More