The MUNI HELPS Volunteer Centre is calling for new volunteers to help in the Jeseníky region. In cooperation with the Volunteering Centre of Palacký University Olomouc, it is now dispatching buses from Brno to the worst affected areas in Jeseník and Česká Ves.
Both volunteer centres coordinate their activities and are in contact with crisis management units in northern Moravia. Food, drink and work gloves are provided for the volunteers involved in the relief effort and overnight accommodation is also offered. “Everything needed will be provided on site, the important thing is to dress appropriately and wear work boots or preferably rubber boots. There are no roads or pavements left, only tons of mud everywhere,” said Matěj Klíma, an MA student at the Faculty of Informatics. Last week he helped clean out flooded cellars in Česká Ves and now he has moved to Jeseník.
He says the most important thing now is to help the locals clean up the damage. “There are a lot of damaged things everywhere. Yesterday, for example, we helped an elderly man clear his garden of all the things the flood had brought in. He looked exhausted and said he had hardly slept all night. He was very sad about the whole situation, but you could tell that having us there made him feel better. He was glad to have someone to talk to about it all. So it also helps the locals if they know they’re not alone and can share their feelings,” says the student, who also responded to the previous MUNI HELPS call and helped fill sandbags at the Brno Exhibition Centre.
Tamara Kubandová, who works in the MU Rector’s Secretariat, helped out in the village of Vápenná in the Jeseníky region last weekend. “I had the opportunity to go with a great group of volunteer firemen. What the affected areas need most now is manpower – pairs of hands to pick up shovels and help clear all the mud and destroyed equipment from homes and basements. The scale of the destruction is really unbelievable,” said Tamara Kubandová, who has helped clean up flood damage in the past, including after the devastating floods in the village of Troubky.
Hundreds of people are still struggling to clear the debris in the Jeseníky area and cannot do it alone. Volunteers can make a difference in the affected areas right now, but they need to register. People are not allowed to enter the flood-damaged areas without first registering with a volunteer organisation.
You can register with MUNI HELPS via the Volunteer Centre’s app or email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Buses are filling up for Friday 27 September and the coming weekend. They depart from the Grand Hotel bus station every day at 5:45am and return to Brno around 8pm. You must complete a form by 12 noon the day before your chosen departure and wait for final confirmation that capacity has been reached. You will then receive further information and contact details for the coordinator.
At the end of last week, the MUNI HELPS Volunteer Centre and the Hnutí Brontosaurus association organised a humanitarian aid collection for the Jeseníky region, which took place in the courtyard of the Faculty of Arts. Collected items such as shovels and brooms, toiletries, cleaning supplies, jerrycans and gas cookers have been sent to the affected areas in the north of Moravia.