Czech Three Kings charity collection to take place online this year

The traditional Three Kings public fund-raising campaign, which Caritas Czech Republic has held in support of people in need since 2000, has been launched online this year due to the anti-COVID-19 restrictions currently in place in the Czech Republic.

This year, no child carolers dressed as the biblical Three Kings will go out to the street to collect money for charity purposes.

People can contribute to the collection online on the Three Kings website or donate money in person to cash boxes at some charity centers, churches, and shops in their regions.

The organizers have decided not to send carolers to the streets, as the country is now on the the fifth and highest alert level of the PES anti-epidemic system.

The fund raiser, known as the Three Kings Collection in the Czech Republic, was first staged by the Catholic Church's Olomouc diocese in north Moravia in 2000. Since 2001, it has been held nationwide.

This year, the charity collection has been extended until January 24.

If the country returns to a more lenient alert level, carolers might start collecting money in the streets if they observe all valid sanitary measures. It would depend on a decision by each particular charity organisation.

The Three Kings Collection is the largest volunteering event of its kind in the country.

Last year it was held for the 20th time and collected a record high sum of 133 million crowns in the Czech Republic. Roughly 75,000 volunteers, mostly children, assisted in the charity collection.

Most proceeds go to support the ill, the disabled, seniors, mothers with children, and other people in need in the Czech regions where the campaign is held. About 10% of the proceeds are allocated to humanitarian aid abroad.