St. Barbara Civil Association has donated over three million Czech crowns to help children and their mothers

OSTRAVA – Last year the St. Barbara Civil Association donated almost CZK 3.2 million to help the children who had lost their fathers due to work injuries. In compliance with the organization’s policy, most funds aimed at supporting the education.

Total costs of school fees, language courses, dormitory accommodation, textbooks and school aids, and hobby groups amounted to more than CZK 780 thousand. Student allowances and extraordinary contributions to cover school aids represented an additional amount of more CZK 350 thousand at the beginning of the school year. The St. Barbara Civil Association donated its children almost CZK 200 thousand in order for them to buy computers, accessories and Internet connection, without which the university study, and in many cases also the secondary study, is not currently thinkable. School trips, ski trainings and summer camps were supported with an amount of CZK 90 thousand.

Other funds were designated to support families, children’s health and organization of common events, where the children and mothers supported by the St. Barbara Civil Association can meet, get acquainted with each other closer and discuss their problems and experience. In particular, such events include “BarboRadování” (St. Barbara Enjoyment Event), common curative stays during holidays, (last year such curative stays were provided in a spa town in Hungary), visit to the OKD Mining Festival or weekend and one-day events, comprising, for example, Skiing Weekend in Malenovice, Weekend in Myšinec Leisure Area and a one-day trip to the Dinopark in Doubrava and Aquapark in Orlová.

A detailed list of all expenses and incomes was submitted by the St. Barbara Civil Association representatives at the annual membership meeting, held at the OKD Headquarters in Ostrava on Wednesday, 16 February 2011.

The St. Barbara Civil Association was officially registered on 27 April 2004. Over six years of its existence, it has become known, and now it enjoys supports provided not only by the founding companies, but also by their employees, other entities or public. This may also be documented by the income structure, where the donation value is significantly higher than the total membership fees. Whereas the obligatory membership fees amounted to almost CZK 630 thousand, the donations earned almost CZK 2.5 million, which is approximately CZK 380 thousand more than expected. The record-breaking amounts collected during the traditional miners’ Jumps over the Leather Apron (over CZK 350 thousand), donations provided by the mining teams, OKD and NWR managers, and help provided by the OKD Foundation helped the St. Barbara Civil Association achieve such results.

A special line in the Income Statement is formed by the “Revenues from Money-Box”, which comprises the proceeds of a public collection. In this specific case, the collected amount of CZK 50,206 is not the most important. The interest in the collection, which was organized, for example, on the motion of Májovák, a large brass orchestra, and students of the Secondary    Technical and Services School in Karviná, documents the wide supports provided to the St. Barbara Civil Association throughout the Ostrava-Karviná Mining Region.

In 2010 the number of children taken care of by the St. Barbara Civil Association continued to decrease. Whereas in 2009 the St. Barbara Civil Association kept records of  90 supported children, last year there were only 87 supported children kept in its files.

Bohuslav Krzyzanek