The Czech Charity for War Veterans
The Spolek Vlčí Máky (English: The Red Poppies Association)
is a charitable volunteer organization founded in 2014.
Its primary mission is to support contemporary Czech war veterans (deployed in peacekeeping and combat missions after 1990) and their families, widows and orphans.
The Association assists both active-duty and discharged soldiers, and Active Reserves soldiers. It can also provide help to members of other security forces (e.g. police officers, firefighters or paramedics).
The support is implemented by a set of social, assistance, material, legal and psychological measures provided by the Association's volunteers and collaborating professionals, always free of charge.
The Association also introduces veterans' issues to the general public. It makes proposals for improving the veterans care and policies, including analytical, methodological and publishing activities.
Help for Veterans
Who Find Themselves
in a Difficult Life Situations
Get Help Now #ArmyHelp
The Association provides immediate assistance tailored to the individual needs of a client whose life situation has dramatically deteriorated due to injury, illness or other adverse event. In particular, this includes counseling, paying for acute needs and organizing collections to secure financially demanding expenses (e.g. the purchase of a wheelchair-accessible car). On average, two new clients a year benefit from #ArmyHelp assistance. The Association's assistance continues as long as necessary.
Comprehensive Support #ArmyHelpRestart
#ArmyHelpRestart is dedicated to clients affected by social exclusion. It includes the provision of accommodation, the purchase of food and personal needs, job placement, reimbursement of transport costs, legal assistance and accompaniment with state social support. Over the course of ten years, the Association has restarted six homeless veterans this way. The shortest time it took for a veteran to be fully independent and economically self-sufficient was six weeks. The longest support lasted for two years.
Food Aid #Rozvozenky
The Association provides disabled, ill or otherwise disadvantaged clients with food assistance, including home delivery for the disabled. It works with the Food Bank and also uses its own resources. In 2024, it supplied 14 families with 22 children, including 4 orphans. To finance regular deliveries, it organizes a collection for the so-called "#Rozvozenky" (English “GiveFoodVouchers”).
Service Injuries
and the #BezBarier Program
In particular, special attention is paid to the correct formal procedure for the occurrence and reporting of service accidents. In fact, every year the Association registers several clients whose injuries while on duty were not properly documented, registered and compensated. The Association has published an information booklet to inform soldiers of the correct procedure. The Association also assists with legal costs.
For clients with serious long-term effects of injury or chronic illness, the Association assists in securing supplemental payments for rehabilitation and convalescent stays, rehabilitation and compensatory aids, home modifications and the purchase of a wheelchair accessible vehicle. This program is called #BezBarier (English #NoBarriers).
Mental Support #Dopisárna
Veterans and their loved ones can contact a dedicated team of volunteers (graduates of the Crisis Intervention Course) with whom they can correspond on a long-term basis. The trust in this program comes from anonymity and confidentiality. It is named #Dopisarna (English #MailRoom).
Clients of the #ArmyHelp program usually use the help of a volunteer - a certified coach. The Association is also in touch with the psychiatric department of the Military University Hospital in Prague.
Helping Veterans
with Employment
Discharged Veterans
Business Activity
The Association is looking for ways to support discharged veterans in starting their own businesses. It provides marketing and accounting advice, and moderates a Facebook group Podnikani ve vysluzbe (English Veteran Ventures), where veterans share their experiences in running their own businesses.
Project #Lemonmade
Starting in 2024, the Association is developing the #Lemonmade program based on the motto: "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Just as a hundred years ago, disabled veterans received newsstands with tobacco for their livelihood, the Association wants to provide them with food trucks today.
Finding a Job #ArmyJob
Volunteers of the Association help soldiers and veterans going into civilian life with finding suitable employment, creating a professional resume/CV and preparing for job interviews. The Association can also contribute to the cost of requalification and specialized courses.
Additional Forms
of Support for Veterans
Sewing Workshop and Project #EasyShorts
In 2023, the Association decided to respond to the wishes of clients with mobility impairments who complained: "I can't even put on my own shorts." By collaborating with veterans with spinal cord injuries and ALS disease, we are developing specially modified shorts and positioning cushions. At the same time, we provide sewing machines and training to wives of the former Afghan interpreters of the Czech Army, widows of veterans, and disabled veterans themselves.
Benefits and Discounts #ArmyFriendly
In 2014, the Association introduced the first comprehensive program of discounts and benefits provided by private companies to service members and veterans, known as #ArmyFriendly. This inspired the Department of Defense to establish an official Veterans Benefits program. The two programs then coexisted for eight years before the Association offered to convert its partners to the ministry program. This also resulted in the discontinuation of the ArmyFriendly.cz signpost, but some specific types of discounts can still be found on the Association's website.
Support for Female Soldiers and Military Spouses #ArmyWoman
Since its inception, the Association has been drawing public attention to the issues faced by women in the army, military spouses and mothers. In addition to many articles on this issue, until 2023, the Association operated a Facebook page called "Zpoved zeny vojaka" (English “Confession of a Soldier's Wife”) and the portal Armywoman.cz. These communication channels were later unified under the main website.
Educational and Awareness
Programs
Veteran Library
Since 2017, the Association has been operating a veteran library, which by August 2024, contains approximately 400 volumes of military, military-historical, and military-adventure literature. Many of the books were donated directly by war veterans, who inscribed their dedications and personal messages. Among these, you can even find a book with an inscription from General and now President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel. The books are available for anyone to borrow, including the option of mail-order loans.
Podcast #VeteranStory
In the summer of 2024, the Association launched its own podcast, #VeteranStory, featuring interviews with veterans and figures connected to the military and veteran issues. The goal is to familiarize the general public with these topics and inspire veterans among the listeners on how to cope with traumatic experiences or transition to civilian life. The podcast is available in a shortened version on Spotify and YouTube, and in full on the platform www.herohero.cz/VeteranStory, where listeners can support the Association's work for veterans through subscriptions. Companies also contribute by placing sponsorship links in the podcasts.
Information Campaigns
Since its inception, the Association has published numerous articles, primarily in collaboration with the portals Armyweb and Ozbrojeneslozky, to popularize veterans issues. It was among the first to introduce Czech readers to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other brain injuries related to soldiers. It is also the only organization in the Czech Republic that has consistently focused on the specific issues faced by female veterans and veteran mothers. In the summer of 2021, the Association spearheaded the massive #ZachranteTlumocniky (English #SaveTheInterpretors) campaign, which resulted in over 200 media mentions and quotes. In the spring of 2024, it launched the #MytyoVeteranech (English #VeteranMythbusters) campaign on social media.
Programs for Schools and Seniors
Volunteers of the Association, together with veterans and former Afghan military interpreters, offer lectures, discussions, and joint trips to military museums for schools and senior communities.
Help for Former Afghan
Military Interpreters
#ZachranteTlumocniky campaign #SaveTheInterpreters
Left Behind in Afghanistan
In 2018, the Association was the first to point out that the resettlement program from Afghanistan to the Czech Republic for military interpreters and their families had been suspended. This left them at risk of Taliban retaliation. Since the government did not renew the program even before the withdrawal of NATO allies from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, the Association launched a large-scale media campaign #SaveTheInterpreters, which involved dozens of organizations and public figures. In three evacuation flights, 17 interpreter families were saved, but another 12 remain in Afghanistan. The Association continues to highlight their fate and also assists with the integration of those who were fortunate enough to be evacuated. You can support this program through www.Darujme.cz/ZachranteTlumocniky.
Support in Education
Many evacuated Afghans were studying at high schools or Kabul University. Continuing their education in the Czech Republic is challenging due to complications with the recognition of their previous education, language barriers, and difficult social situations. The Association partnered with Newton University in Prague, which had already offered help during the evacuations - two Afghans enrolled in the 2023/24 academic year. For the academic year 2024/25, the Association has prepared scholarship applications for three more students.
Since 2021, the Association has also been involved in purchasing school supplies, paying for extracurricular activities, and summer camps for interpreter families with young children.
Czech Language Course
In the past, the Association contributed to Czech language courses for two interpreter wives. From the year 2024, it seeks funding to organize its own Czech language course. The reason is that most courses for foreigners in the past two years have mainly focused on Ukrainians, whose language shares 60% similarity with Czech. In contrast, the languages spoken by Afghans are completely different, and in addition to the language itself, cultural differences need to be considered in teaching. Therefore, the Association has created a syllabus for an intensive evening course of 300 hours, aiming to prepare participants to pass a certified language exam at the B1 and B2 levels. Practically all evacuated families are interested in this course.
Sewing Courses, Sewing Machines, and Participation in Project #EasyShorts
The Association decided to assign the production of specially modified shorts for the disabled to the wives of Afghan interpreters. Starting in 2024, it is preparing sewing courses for them in collaboration with the sheltered workshop "Inspirace" and is securing sewing machines. These women will not only earn extra income, which will strengthen their independence and improve their families' social situations, but they will also acquire job skills that they often lacked, having grown up under Taliban rule where education was forbidden to them. This collaboration is complemented by Czech language instructions to improve their communication skills.
Food and Material Assistance
In 2022, the Association organized a collection of clothing and household items for the families of Afghan interpreters. Since the beginning of 2023, it has been delivering food aid to 7 families as part of the #Rozvozenky program (immobile veterans also receive this aid). Other needy families can request food assistance from the Afghan-Czech Solidarity Association. Occasionally, the Red Poppies Association provides additional material assistance, such as used furniture. In the spring of 2024, a personal car was donated by another client - a soldier who could no longer use the vehicle due to a spinal injury - to a family with several small children living in a remote area.
Support for Ukrainian
War Veterans
Support for Czech Veterans
of the War in Ukraine
Since the beginning of the war, the Association has been preparing for the possibility that Czech volunteers - veterans of the war in Ukraine who went to fight, for example, in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion - might ask for help. It urges that their status and access to social and psychological services be addressed by the Departments of Defense, Interior, and Labor and Social Affairs. By mid-2023, the Association had already supported one such a veteran (a veteran of the Czech Army and later of the war in Ukraine) through the #ArmyHelp program.
For Organizations Helping
Ukrainian Veterans
Since 2023, the Association has been providing consultations to humanitarian organizations operating in Ukraine, aiming to assist local veterans. The Association assisted in creating the “Heart” concept for re-building rehabilitation centers by the Association of Women for Aid to Victims of War Aggression. At the beginning of 2024, it signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Military Chaplains. Since the summer of 2024, it has been in contact with Romodrom org., which supports (among others) Romani disabled veterans in Transcarpathia. The Association believes that by helping to develop veteran care in Ukraine, it will alleviate future pressure on European social and medical systems by Ukrainian veterans.
Information for Ukrainian Veterans Residing in the Czech Republic
Currently, there are Ukrainian veterans of the Russian invasion on Czech territory who have been discharged from active duty due to injuries. The Association is currently mapping out what assistance can be provided to them by the Ukrainian consulate, the Ukrainian community, and the Czech state.
Humanitarian Aid
at the Start of the Invasion
In the very beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Association, like many other organizations, immediately focused on helping the attacked country. It organized three deliveries, the first of which took place as early as February 28, containing equipment for Ukrainian defenders worth a total of 1.5 million CZK (no funds intended for helping Czech veterans were used for this purpose). During the return trips, the Association evacuated 50 people, with the last delivery being made by bus and bringing refugees from Mariupol. The campaign, labeled #BalickynaHranice2 (English “CzechpointAid2”), was covered by outlets such as CNN Prima News.
During the first months, the Association organized combat first aid TCCC courses for Ukrainians leaving the Czech Republic to defend their homeland. In the winter of 2023, it organized a warm clothing collection, which benefited both the families of former Afghan interpreters of the Czech Army and Ukrainian refugees.
Collaboration with #ProjectHemingway
Since late 2023, the Association has become part of the independent initiative #ProjectHemingway. This initiative aims to connect small charities helping Ukraine with Czech manufacturers, suppliers, and war reporters. Through this collaboration, representatives of the Association had the opportunity to visit the Zaporizhzhia front, a rehabilitation institute for veterans in Halychyna, and the Shklo Sanatorium, both in the Lviv region.
Other Types of Assistance
#CzechPointAid during Pandemy
In the spring of 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown was announced in the Czech Republic, the Association's volunteers began completing packages containing snacks, face masks, and protective shields, which they delivered to soldiers and police officers deployed to guard border crossings. In collaboration with the initiative “Motorkari pomahaji” (English “Bikers Help”), the Association made weekly deliveries to all border crossings for a month and a half. This effort was supported by the “Spolu silnejsi” (English “Stronger Together”) initiative led by General Petr Pavel, with a donation of 50,000 CZK.
Funding
Charity E-Shop
Since almost the beginning, the Association has offered its own merchandise. The charity e-shop is part of the Association's website and mainly offers poppy pins in a wide variety of designs, as well as other items with a veteran theme. Many of the products are handcrafted by volunteers and in protected and therapeutic workshops. By making a purchase, customers contribute twice - both to help veterans and to support the disabled.
Veterans Friends Club
Since its founding, the Association has relied on a small circle of dedicated supporters willing to make occasional contributions to help singled out veterans. However, the Association had few regular donors, making it difficult to build financial reserves and cover operating expenses. Therefore, in 2024, the Association established the #KlubPratelVeteranu (English #VeteransFriendsClub), which brings together small, regular donors. In return, the Association offers members a newsletter, online discussions with veterans, access to the full version of the #VeteranStory podcast, and more. Membership in the club is created by setting up any monthly contribution at www.Darujme.cz/SpolekVlciMaky.
Poppy Appeal
The same products available in the charity e-shop can also be purchased at various military events where the Association has a booth. Additionally, before Veterans Day/Remembrance Day November 11th, the items are available in collaborating shops, town halls, and other locations.
Other Public Collections
The Association actively uses online crowdfunding platforms like Donio and Znesnaze21 to organize fundraisers to help specific clients in need, who receive 100% of the amount raised. Additionally, the Association organizes a long-term collection for #Rozvozenky, which funds the delivery of food aid to families of disabled veterans and former Afghan interpreters. There is also an ongoing fundraiser for the #EasyShorts program, where Afghan interpreters' wives learn to sew items for people with disabilities.
Sponsorship
and Corporate Partnerships
The Association offers attractive opportunities for building corporate partnerships. From the beginning, it has sought companies that value war veterans and are willing to actively support them. This could involve employing veterans, providing benefits, sponsoring specific Association programs, purchasing poppy pins for employees to wear on November 11th, and more. An interesting but yet untapped opportunity is Corporate Giving Challenges, which can be launched together on the Darujme portal. A new opportunity for sponsorship is the placement of ads in the #VeteranStory podcast.
Charity Auctions
In 2014, the Association launched the #AukceProVeterany (English #AuctionsForVeterans) project, auctioning military gear from family of a perished veteran through the Armyburza portal to help support his widow and daughter during a period when the Ministry of Defense inexplicably blocked the widow’s access to funds. In 2020, the Association began holding yearly auctions of wooden flags on the same platform, having received 30 of them as donations. The #VlajkyProVeterany (English #FlagsForVeterans) project will conclude in the fall of 2024. In the winter of 2023, the Association also auctioned several artistic items created and donated by veterans. In the winter of 2024, the Association also tried the new platform Dobrobot, but without success.
Runs for Charity
In 2014 and 2015, participants in Army Run obstacle course contributed to helping the Association’s clients. During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, the Association was approached by Rozbehame Cesko (English Let Czechs Run), which suggested that participants in the #MyTePorazime (English #WeWillPrevail) virtual run could contribute part of their entry fees to help veterans. This led to the creation of the #BehOsvobozeni (English #LiberationRun), which was repeated in 2021 and 2022. The proceeds helped cover the cost of rehabilitation and equipment for several former soldiers. The Association is looking forward to continue these initiatives.
