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Date:
13 Aug 2025
The story of NFMD: About the power of solidarity and the courage to start anew
Sometimes paths cross, part ways and reconnect after years, creating something greater. The story of our fund is not about forms and grants. It's about friendship, about finding meaning in difficult moments, and about a family that decided to help differently. Read about how the vision of solidarity was born, where 1 + 1 is not two, but three.
I know Martina through our mutual friend Alena, who wrote a beautiful book about monasteries twelve years ago. The dense text was complemented by artistic photographs from her court photographer Jirka. They travelled together through regions and monasteries, talking, photographing, and creating.
As part of the foundation, Martina wanted to expand activities to support organizations that focused on the most vulnerable. She turned to Alena for advice, having seen so much during her travels and spoken with many people. On one of her trips to the Šluknov region, Alena took her along.
At that time, I had a private psychotherapy practice and a background in working with at-risk children and their families. Not long before, I had handed over the organisation Dům tří přání, which I had founded, where I served as the director, "therapist", and after it was handed over to new management, as a methodologist. The first workplace of the organisation was the Přemysl Pitt's Children’s Shelter, offering residential and outpatient services. These were further expanded to include field and stationary services. The seamless continuity of individual services, their forms, and the comprehensive interdisciplinary work with children and their families could be applied to any crisis situation threatening a child’s healthy development.
Alena greatly appreciated the Dům tří přání. She wanted to ease Martina’s initial work by sharing my experiences with her.
This connected two different worlds, united by solidarity. We then saw each other sporadically. The one-time consultations were months apart.
Return and "reward in old age"
It was seven years ago when Martina called from Munich, where her family had moved to after a long break. At that time, in addition to the three daughters I had known through her, she also had a small, recently born Toník.
The family was going through a crisis culminating in divorce. Considering that I had also dealt with this issue, I was able to help Martina cope with all the changes that had occurred in her life. I could also recommend a specialist for therapy, especially concerning little Toník.
When we touched upon the foundation during our conversations, we agreed that she couldn't manage it from Munich on her own and needed someone to assist her. Martina reached out to her acquaintances in the Czech Republic and after several unsuccessful attempts, she asked me as well. Even though I was certainly not counting on diving back into work, I couldn't just refuse the offer. The thought of being able to utilise and share everything I have in my head, in various methodologies, presentations, notes, and records was enticing. I had and still have a number of contacts among professionals from various fields, potential collaborators who would recommend others, and those would recommend even more...
Passing on the work properly, or rather passing it on to the right people, had repeatedly eluded me in the past. I thought this time it would work. The fundamental assumptions and principles of the work are basically universal. What was at the beginning of building the House of Three Wishes, I can apply to my work for the foundation as well. This was running through my mind before I said yes.
Inspiration from Saint Vincent and family roots
And then it just started. Practically from the very beginning, I referred to our shared work as "a reward for old knees." I think that even Martina has found the right path. The words she included in her recent response to a thank-you letter capture this well, as she reminisces about her beginnings. She writes about how eleven years ago, when her mission began, she collaborated with the St. Vincent de Paul Home in the Šluknov region. About St. Vincent, who cared for the poor, literally the poorest of the poor, the most needy of the needy, and the most miserable of the miserable. His legacy first guided her to a decision and then accompanied her in helping those who are completely on the margins, those whom even the system cannot provide what they need, those who supposedly fall through the cracks. She also dealt with various dilemmas. She found it inappropriate to answer the question of why she does it, that it brings her joy and fulfillment. As if she were saying that what she enjoys is conditioned by the fall to the bottom of someone else. She concludes that now she knows how important it is to support community life. So that everyone has the opportunity to belong to the community and to realize that they are not alone with their problems, that help can be offered, provided, asked for, or accepted. The number of those who fall to the bottom can then be significantly less. This is what makes the community stronger, more resilient, and safer. In this, she sees the power of solidarity and the joy that accompanies her.
Martina also mentioned that she wants to prepare a fund for her daughters, who will then build upon her work. And when she added that she knows how to invest in real estate and their renovations, we agreed that as a fund we will create a network of community centers whose use will correspond to the needs of each region.
A family foundation was thus formed, at the start of which stand three generations – and the daughters will maintain continuity into the future. Initially, Martina's parents became the members of the board. The eldest daughter Anna was finishing her studies in neuroscience in London at that time and decided on a scientific career in the field. The middle daughter Magda is studying political science in Salzburg, and the youngest daughter Bára is still deciding which direction she will take after her graduation, which is due next year. Tonda is a seven-year-old boy, and it is premature to talk about what his role will be. In any case, he will see what his family is engaged in.
When Magda decided that she wanted to fully dedicate herself to the family foundation after completing her studies, she was appointed to the board, where she took over the scepter from her grandmother Helena.
Everything starts in nursery school.
Martina also says from the beginning that she does not want fundraising, that the financial resources of the fund will be generated from its own sources. And because we emphasise collaboration, we are also building on other foundations and endowments in this regard so that our financial support complements each other. We will continue to seek partners so that there will be more of us and sustainable changes in the Ústí nad Labem and Karlovy Vary regions occur as soon as possible.
In addition to financial support for selected projects, another aim of the foundation is to reach out to experts from various fields, professional and moral authorities, who are engaged with important topics and challenges of today and can inspire us. We want to connect theory with practice.
We intend to revive examples of good practice and methodologies from the past that can serve as a starting point when working in the context of a new era. Generally, it is the case that the problems that exist today were also present before, and it can be assumed that this will be the case in the future as well. However, it is important to know that solutions are often found when we know why, how, when, and whom to turn to and who to collaborate with…
We consider preschool education and its significance to be an important topic, as specialists have pointed out to us. We can quote the title of a book by Robert Fulghum: "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." May it really be the case that when things start well and on time, it is easier later. And perhaps over time, it will be possible to reverse the research-confirmed fact that our children do not like going to school.
Living water and an equation that does not hold
Within the foundation fund, we do not announce grant calls, we do not have teams for selection procedures and administration. We build on personal meetings, dialogue, building trust. We already know how and why we want to continue in some projects, connect them, expand cooperation, and look for new projects.
With Martina Dryk, we are significantly in sync. We know that one without the other could not do what we do. We have repeatedly talked about how fortunate we are to have such an opportunity. A year of experience has shown the role of mutual support, cooperation, and solidarity, how different stories intertwine and influence each other, becoming part of what NFMD represents. It is a source of inspiration for the years to come.
In the scientific world, causal relationship, scientific proof, 1 + 1 = 2 applies. We repeatedly experience a symbolic 1 + 1 = 3. That which succeeds transcends the sum, something greater emerges, which is not just our work, before which we can only bow with gratitude, humility, and respect.
Perhaps the point at the end is then understandable:
YES, YES!!! TO LIVE, TO HONOUR, TO KNOW
NO, NO!!! TO ABUSE, TO DISHONOUR, TO DISALLOW