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Prague.  The Czech Jesuit Province, St. Ignatius Parish in Prague and the Academic Parish in Prague have joined forces to effectively assist refugees from Ukraine in the Czech Republic and neighbouring countries. It all started with a spontaneous initiative at St. Ignatius Church on Sunday, February 27, which put together a collection of a large amount of material aid, such as clothing, blankets, sleeping bags, and hygiene items (photo). Everything was transported directly to Ukraine in the following days thanks to Ukrainian friends living in Prague. Volunteer firefighters, the Scout Institute and dozens of individual volunteers as well as members of the Prague Jesuit community were involved in transporting and sorting the items.

In Prague, the Jesuits, their collaborators and volunteers are continuing the long-term collection of material aid. A large tent has been erected in the courtyard of the Jesuit residence to store the donations of benefactors. To coordinate the collection, a website   www.jezuitoudnes.cz/pomahame/ has been set up, from which it is also possible to contribute to the fundraiser for specific needs. Also, in the following weeks we shipped several tons of aid directly to Ukraine (Velykyj Bychkiv, Kyiv, Lviv, and Zhytomyr) and contributed to the Red Cross collection. We also started to provide material aid to specific refugee families in Prague, in Decin, and we helped other church entities that provided shelter to refugees (Carmelites in Prague-Hradcany, the Retreat House in Kolin).

We have also begun to develop cooperation with aid centres in neighbouring countries, and we have established our first contacts with Jesuits in Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, to whom we will provide material support according to their needs and our possibilities.

Also, two Jesuit houses have offered accommodation for Ukrainian refugees - in Decin in a former BnB there are rooms for about 15 people, and in the Prague Jesuit residence there are three rooms available.

There are now around 270,000 Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic. The Czech authorities and population are welcoming to the refugees. However, the capacities of the state and public administration, especially for the accommodation, are running out. The government is beginning to consider setting up refugee camps.

Petr Havlicek SJ

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