Czech Radio project in which strangers fulfil wishes of the elderly doesn’t stop at Christmas, say organisers
For the past few years, the Czech Radio Endowment Fund has organised a project called ‘Santa’s Grandchildren’ that turns ordinary people into guardian angels and Christmas fairies, granting the wishes of elderly people in retirement homes. Although many people mistakenly think that it is only a Christmas event, the project actually continues to raise money and bring joy to the elderly all year round, not just at Christmas.
Helena Kocourová was six years old when she met the first president of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. Now a venerable woman of 99, she got her wish this year through Santa’s Grandchildren of meeting another Czech president – the current head of state, Petr Pavel. In a visit to Ms. Kocourová’s retirement home in Mníšek pod Brdy that not even the staff knew about beforehand, President Pavel and his wife Eva surprised the nonagenarian in what she described afterwards as the best present she had ever received.
Santa’s Grandchildren – or rather Jesus' Grandchildren in its direct translation from Czech, as it is baby Jesus who brings the presents in Czechia – has granted the wishes of over 100,000 elderly people in the seven years it has been running. The wishes can be anything material or non-material – ranging from a meeting with the Pope or the President to skydiving or a ride on a Harley-Davidson motorbike.
But Gabriela Drastichová, the head of Czech Radio’s Endowment Fund, says she is most often touched by the humble wishes.
“A few years ago, when I entered the project, I was impressed by wishes like doing a parachute jump or flying in a hot-air balloon. But now, when I read the wishes, I’m always more touched by those that are very humble, because that is something that we are not used to these days. So when someone wishes for a box of sweets or a warm blanket or a nice picture, those are the wishes that really touch me and that I can’t forget.”
The wishes are fulfilled via specific donors – the eponymous ‘Santa’s Grandchildren’ – members of the public who choose from the list of wishes on the project’s website and decide which one they want to fulfil, starting in mid-November. Although the main highlight of Santa's Grandchildren is the pre-Christmas fundraiser, Gabriela Drastichová emphasises that it is a year-round project.
“Some of the wishes are quite financially demanding – travelling somewhere, experiencing something – and every year there are more and more wishes like that. These wishes get fulfilled throughout the year – it needs to continue after Christmas because some of the wishes really take some time to organise, or you need nicer weather than we have now during Christmas. But we try to fulfil all of the wishes that we receive.”
The wishes that are too expensive to be paid for by an individual Santa’s Grandchild are taken care of by a public fundraiser, which also allows the wishes and needs of senior citizens in the Czech Republic to continue to be fulfilled all year round.
