Founder Jerzy Owsiak led the charity drive for the 21st consecutive year Courtesy of WOŚP/Błażej Sendzierski

By midnight on Sunday January 13, nearly zł.40 million had been raised by this year’s Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP), an annual charity drive. The charity purchases state-of-the-art hospital equipment for pediatric wards, and this year, for the first time, for geriatric wards as well.

“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 and founder of the charity.
The results are similar to last year’s, though the exact amount raised during the drive won’t be known until March. Usually, the final amount is 30-40 percent higher than what is recorded immediately after the day-long fundraiser, as money from auctions and events flow in over the following couple of weeks.

Poland’s largest annual charity fundraiser got under way on January 13, with 120,000 volunteers collecting money for equipment and therapies for sick children and the elderly. The event, which includes a day-long media marathon, celebrity auctions, concerts and volunteers collecting money out on the streets, took place for the 21st consecutive year.

Auctions galore
As always, there were thousands of auctions, in which potential benefactors could bid on many unusual items. One “lucky” winner could spend a day in a correctional facility, another was invited to the presidential residency in Wisła for a weekend stay.

There were also hundreds of memorabilia, signed and donated by athletes, politicians, and entertainers from Poland and abroad. Items included Mike Tyson boxing gloves, as well as jerseys and soccer balls from the numerous national teams that played in the Euro 2012 competition in Poland last summer.

One of the traditions of the charity is the auction of gold-plated, numbered, heart-shaped medallions. The one with number 1 is usually bought after a heated auction, with many companies, organizations and businesspeople participating. This year the highest bidder was EuCO KRIS MAKS, which paid zł.150,000 for the medallion.
According to its organizers, the drive is one of the most effective operations of its kind in the world. Last year, WOŚP raised zł.50.6 million, a record-best result. That money was spent on state-of-the-art life-saving equipment for premature babies and insulin pumps for pregnant women with diabetes.
Jacek Ciesnowski