COURTESY OF WOŚP

 The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP), one of the largest charity drives in Poland, is scheduled to take place across the country on January 13.

The annual day-long event includes numerous concerts and rallies held across the country and abroad, as well as a nationwide auction. According to its organizers, the drive is one of the most effective operations of its kind in the world.

Every year the event sees thousands of volunteers collect money in the streets and numerous sponsors donate funds to the charity. WOAP then uses the money to purchase medical equipment for hospitals in Poland.

For the first time, the 2013 event will focus not only on children in need of medical aid, but also on helping senior citizens. “There are many regions in Poland that don’t have geriatric hospital care, and even if they have it, they’re usually poorly equipped. We can change this,” said Jerzy Owsiak, the head of the charity.

Half of the money raised in January will be spent on such equipment for geriatric wards. The other half will be spent on equipment for children’s wards.

The 2011 edition of the event (the 20th so far) raised over zł.48 million. It was spent on state-of-the-art life-saving equipment for premature babies and insulin pumps for pregnant women with diabetes.

Jacek Ciesnowski