The floods
Since its foundation the VIZE 97 Foundation has helped people and organisations affected by two successive waves of floods.
In 1997, the main focus of the Foundation’s activity was assistance during the floods that affected Moravia, Silesia and Eastern Bohemia. In co-operation with the Vinohrady Theatre, the Foundation organised seven benefit performances of August Strindberg’s play “Queen Christina” with Dagmar Havlová in the main role. Dagmar Havlová made a personal visit to the flooded areas. After those visits and subsequent consultations, the Foundation decided to devote the proceeds from the performances to building a home for citizens who, for financial reasons or reasons of age, were unable to renovate their flooddamaged homes. The home was formally opened in the village of Mikulovice u Jeseníku on 8 October. 1998. Another project was “Concert Parties on the Water” organised to express solidarity and support to the people in the flooded areas. Fiftyfour Czech actors and entertainers took part in eighteen concert parties organised in the worst afflicted regions.
Since 2002, when the Czech Republic was affected by the second major flood disaster, the VIZE 97 Foundation assisted the flood victims up to 2005. It was thus one of the last organisations not to forget the horror and destructive power of the water which laid waste a large part of Bohemia and took the homes of hundreds of families in 2002. More than 11 million crowns were raised during the course of the public collection designed to assist the people affected by the floods. Donations were made, for instance, to the town of Bavorov for the reconstruction of a primary school, to the “Poliklinika Denisovo nábřeží” hospital in Plzeň for the replacement of equipment destroyed in the floods, to the “Lyčkovo náměstí” primary school in Prague for its renovation, to the Roman Catholic parish in Kralupy nad Vltavou to build a training centre, to the Catholic Girls’ School for equipping a gymnasium, to the “Divadlo pod Palmovkou” theatre in Prague, the Health Institute in Ústí nad Labem, and to many other institutions and organisations.
In 2004 the Foundation broadened its flood collection to give aid to areas affected by the tsunami disaster in South-East Asia. Via the organisation Hand for Help it sent 200 000 Czech crowns to support a Czech medical mission operating in Sri Lanka, which helped treat the wounded shortly after the disaster.