The small village of Neratov is today a place that provides facilities for people with mental and physical disabilities. It is also a sought-after tourist destination. It has suitable conditions for this – a pub, a shop, and accommodation. Yet it almost happened that Neratov, with its decaying church, could have remained only a cottage settlement.

Josef Suchár discovered Neratov in 1987. Although originally from Brno, he knew the Orlické Mountains very well thanks to his involvement in a local scout camp. After 1989, when he was able to perform priestly duties publicly, he asked the Bishop of Hradec Králové to assign him a parish. He began serving in Rokytnice v Orlických horách and gradually became responsible for 11 other parishes, including the one in Neratov. The church was already just a ruin, and if it had not been for the exceptional atmosphere that had been preserved there, he might have simply waved it off and moved on. Not without reason is it an important pilgrimage site. Not without reason did thousands of pilgrims come here…

However, repairing a church in an almost deserted village would not have made much sense. Gradually, his vision began to be shared by friends, cottage owners from the surrounding area, and especially the families mentioned above. They even left Prague to move permanently to this secluded place. Their joint effort brought the first success when, on 15 August 1990, the first mass was held outdoors in front of the church.

A year later, the pilgrimage mass was celebrated in the already cleared church. By that time, a community had been forming which, thanks to the fact that both families had taken in abandoned children into foster care alongside their own, was oriented toward helping those in need.

In its beginnings, the association helped everyone who was disadvantaged or excluded from society in any way. It provided a background for abandoned children and people with mental disabilities, as well as for people with addictions, those after serving a prison sentence, or those without a home. However, these diverse groups did not always coexist well together, and it was therefore decided that Sdružení Neratov would focus on helping abandoned children with disabilities and adults with mental, psychological, or physical disabilities.

Here in Neratov, people with disabilities are not pitied, nor are they considered a burden. They are regarded as equal members of society, and that is how they are treated. Everything that happens here is not done for them, but with them. This is also why they work in local services, whether in the pub, the shop, or cleaning, for example. These and other workplaces operate as sheltered workplaces.