Progresus supported the Leontinka Foundation at the Forbes magazine charity dinner. Since 2005, the foundation has been helping visually impaired children and young people with targeted integration into society and trying to improve their quality of life through educational programs and sports, social or leisure activities. The CZK 450,000 donation from Progresus will be used for assistance dog training and educational programs. The organisers eventually managed to raise over CZK 4 million at the charity event held at the Convent of St Agnes of Bohemia in Prague. And because social responsibility is very close to our hearts at Progresus, the projects to which our aid goes are always targeted and, above all, long-term.
“I am pleased that despite the difficult times, the Forbes Charity Evening brought together dozens of successful entrepreneurs who financially supported a number of interesting and meaningful projects. We decided to contribute to the successful Leontinka Foundation, which I personally found very interesting with its focus, history and the projects themselves,” explains Lukáš Foral, co-owner of Progresus, and adds: “We later met personally with the director of the foundation, Mrs. Hucková, and agreed that the money would be used for the project Dog Eyes (Psí oči) and education of the blind. I am sure that education will help them achieve their dream goals in their personal and professional lives and I have no doubt that they will make a huge contribution to society. Although they have one less sense, we can all learn from them.”
“The Leontinka Foundation has been helping visually impaired people, especially children and young people, for over 17 years. However, fundraising has become increasingly challenging. Still, we were pleasantly surprised by how many people and companies are willing to help, as evidenced by the Forbes charity dinner. Thanks to the generous donation from the Progresus Invest Holding, we will be able to support the training of an assistance dog, which is not only very expensive financially, but also time-consuming,” says Barbora Hucková from the Leontinka Foundation and describes what will follow. “A dog must be chosen that is characteristically suitable for the client, and this alone is quite challenging. After a year of pre-education, the dog will be trained according to the special needs of the client with a combined disability – i.e. exactly tailored to his needs. The training of one such dog costs more than 250 thousand crowns, but the result is priceless. The four-legged furry friend will become the client’s helper and will indeed significantly improve both the quality of his life and his safety. The remaining funds, which will be provided by Progresus, will be used for the education of the visually impaired, just as we promised Mr. Foral and I,” Barbara Hucková concludes.
We are extremely happy to have been able to help in this way where it is really needed. And especially at this Advent time.