Winners of the 2015 Volunteer of the Year competition

Candidates are nominated in four categories: adult volunteer, youth volunteer, non-governmental organization and donor. By decision of the jury, this year commendations were awarded in two categories: youth and adult volunteer. The commendations went to: Maja Szocińska, Beata Żuromska, Edward Widuch and Mariusz Lickiewicz.

In the adult volunteer category, the jury honored Anna Mocydlarz-Popielarz with this title. Klaudia Pruszyńska was named 2015 Youth Volunteer of the Year. In the non-governmental organization category, the title went to the “Wspólna radość” Association in Bolesławiec. In the donor category, the title was awarded to Ceramika Artystyczna CERMAZ sp. z o.o., based in Warta Bolesławiecka.

Nominees in the adult volunteer category:

• Janina Piestrak-Babijczuk – devotes her time and skills with great commitment. She provides assistance and health advice with great respect for the sick. Twice a week, she regularly sees patients at a surgical clinic, showing particular care to children and older people. She sees an average of approximately 250 patients a month, a large proportion of whom are children.
• Beata Żuromska – organizes assistance for people affected by disability, illness, poverty, social exclusion and discrimination. Particularly noteworthy are her active participation in planning and coordinating the Bone Marrow Donor Day, Szpikolada, “Mountain of Pennies” and Noble Gift campaigns. She also co-organizes a Christmas wafer meeting for people with disabilities from Bolesławiec County, Andrzejki celebrations and the Hunger Awareness Day. She supports the Children’s Home, repeatedly financing and organizing trips to the swimming pool and playroom for the children. She helps her charges with their studies.
• Bogusław Mienculewicz – a strong man with a dove-like heart, kind and helpful. He participates in campaigns supporting people in need, can win young people over and motivate them to work hard, helping them achieve sporting success, develop character and learn healthy competition and cooperation for their future social and professional lives. Since 2013, he has regularly worked as a volunteer for the Special Olympics. He devotes his free time to preparing students of the Special School for numerous tournaments and sporting competitions held as part of the Special Olympics.
• Michał Bortnik – a person of great personal culture, caring and warm-hearted. He promotes patriotic attitudes among children and young people. He participates in campaigns supporting people in need, sparing neither his own resources nor his time. Since 2012, he has volunteered with the Special Olympics Club and also chronicles the athletes’ achievements. For the third consecutive year, he is participating in the Noble Gift campaign. Mr. Michał is also an instructor with the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association. As quartermaster, he organizes holidays for children and young people.
• Janina Majewska – a kind, friendly and noble person, passionate about community work. For many years, she has been involved in various initiatives and projects aimed at supporting and helping children, people in need, people with disabilities, the sick and those at risk of social exclusion. She provides food and clothing for residents of the homeless shelter run by the Polish Red Cross in Bolesławiec. She is an active volunteer during the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity and Bolesławiec’s Star of Kindness. 2012 Volunteer of the Year in the Donor category.
• Edward Widuch – deeply committed to volunteer work, to which he devotes a large part of his free time. As President of the Municipal Sports Club MKS Chrobry Nowogrodziec, he promotes socially responsible attitudes among young people through his activities. His work is systematic and focuses on weekly trips to sporting competitions of individual sections, ensuring the club’s proper and efficient operation, and supervising discipline and safety during competitions, particularly those held at partner sports facilities outside Nowogrodziec.
• Dariusz Orlak – a wonderful, kind and friendly man, brimming with optimism. A so-called jack-of-all-trades with excellent personal culture, he is always someone people can rely on. An ordinary—extraordinary Friend of the Amazons Club.
• Helena Kiełbasa – a long-time volunteer at the Carpe Diem Club, where she handles accounting matters. Warm and kind, she gives herself selflessly to the Club. Her daily work deserves recognition; she devotes her time to the Club even though she herself is struggling with a serious illness.
• Dorota Mazurkiewicz – motivated to help people in need, responsible, systematic and sensitive, open to others and helpful. She actively participates in projects, ceremonies and other activities involving members and supporters of the Society of Friends of Children in Bolesławiec. She helps organize various events and supervises their course in accordance with the adopted plan. Her work is marked by optimism and a desire to act. She creates a friendly atmosphere that facilitates teamwork, enabling people to achieve much more than when working individually. When working with people with disabilities, she demonstrates tolerance, which makes it possible to understand others despite differences in their appearance or behavior. She also works for the poorest people and those at risk of social exclusion.
• Anna Mocydlarz-Popielarz – a kind and noble co-founder of the “Wspólna Radość” Association in Bolesławiec, she actively participates in all activities undertaken by the organization. Together with young people from Bolesławiec County, Ms. Anna supports people with disabilities and responds to their needs. Her generosity brings people with disabilities greater acceptance, joy and smiles. Thanks to the volunteer’s commitment, we were able to see the theatrical performance “King Bul” and take part in an integration picnic under the slogan “I am not alone; I have many friends in Bolesławiec County.”
• Mariusz Lickiewicz – a kind and tolerant organizer of Bolesławiec’s social life, with a head full of new ideas. A participant in Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity campaigns. Until 2013, co-organizer and coordinator of the Gliniada Parade of Love for Clay. Initiator and originator of cooperation with the Polish Institute in Prague, which led to a regular promotional campaign for the Bolesławiec region and Bolesławiec ceramics in the Czech capital. Originator, co-organizer and coordinator of initiatives such as the Ceramic Xtrabike MTB Marathon, Ceramic MTB Cyclocross, the Ceramic Parade – Carnival of Cultures, and a series of bicycle rallies under the name County Cycling League, promoting cycling tourism.
• Michał Budziński – Mr. Michał’s qualities include a good heart and nobility. An inventive initiator, logistics coordinator and co-organizer of many campaigns and projects of the “Wspólna Radość” Association in Bolesławiec. He can motivate Association members, organize volunteers from outside the Association and inspire them with his enthusiasm for planned activities. His work has resulted in campaigns and projects bringing joy and satisfaction to people with disabilities, including a series of theatrical performances of “King Bul,” the third integration picnic under the slogan “I am not alone; I have many friends in Bolesławiec County,” hippotherapy classes for all students of the Special School, and charity concerts supporting the school’s students. Mr. Michał is also a member of the County Social Council for People with Disabilities operating under the Bolesławiec Starosta, where he serves as deputy chair and continues his work for people with disabilities.
• Kazimierz Łętowski – a plain-spoken gentleman and President of the Polish Association of the Blind in Bolesławiec. Sincerely devoted to community work, he is creative and consistent in his activities. He can work with a group; his conscientiousness and systematic approach are invaluable. He likes to take on challenges effectively and efficiently and involves others in the initiatives he undertakes. The nominee is disciplined, committed, helpful, conscientious, honest and patient. Association members deeply appreciate and admire the time and work he has devoted.
• Andrzej Klimkowski – devotes his life to helping those most in need. For four years, he has participated in distributing food from the European Union. While carrying out various volunteer tasks, he demonstrates a high degree of sensitivity, which helps him notice people around him who are in need, lonely, helpless, sick and suffering. When helping those in his care, he shows them respect and honors their dignity. He is committed and persistent and manages his time well, allowing him to combine volunteer work with other responsibilities. This work enables him to share his time, interest, experience and smile. He is helpful, positive toward people and responsible. Through his work, he develops the individual passions and interests of people with disabilities and meets the needs of people and groups supported by volunteers. As a volunteer, he knows that although things can sometimes be difficult, the joy and smile on a beneficiary’s face are worth the work and effort.

Five people were nominated in the youth volunteer category this year:

• Klaudia Pruszyńska – a student at General Secondary School Complex No. 1 in Bolesławiec. She is helpful, hardworking and very well organized. She achieves very good academic results and takes part in every campaign aimed at helping others. She gets along well with her peers and is active in the Student Council, where she is running for deputy school president. She completes every task entrusted to her on time, conscientiously and accurately. She regards volunteering as a service of the soul and heart through which she can help and make people happy, bringing a spark of joy and hope for a better tomorrow into their lives.
• Kacper Szwed – a second-year student at General Secondary School Complex No. 1 in Bolesławiec. Kacper is highly reliable and can always be counted on. He wins prizes and commendations at school, regional and national olympiads and competitions. For years, he has been involved in the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity; for three years, he has supervised a group. He is also active in the school ecology club, the student council and the SWAT group. Outside school, he is active in the MDP in Gierałtów; his team took second place in municipal sports and firefighting competitions. Kacper also runs a fan page for his hometown, Gierałtów.
• Maja Szocińska – a student at General Secondary School Complex No. 1 in Bolesławiec. The volunteer finds satisfaction in working with children and founded a scout group for younger children. Good, caring and nurturing, she is adored by the “Little Wanderers.” Very active, she balances her studies with involvement in helping those waiting for the “Noble Gift,” organizing an integration picnic and St. Nicholas celebrations for children from the County Complex of Special Schools and Institutions in Bolesławiec. Her friendly hand is always available.
• Diana Baranowska – a second-year student in the nutrition and catering services technical program at the Complex of General and Vocational Schools in Bolesławiec. A warm and very kind volunteer. She can be found at charity campaigns organized by her school, the Polish Red Cross and Caritas. She also helps prepare artistic events connected with the Polish-Ukrainian youth project “Building Dialogue through Music, Dance and Song.”
• Jan Goleński – a middle-school student at the School Complex of the Piarist Order. Kind and helpful, he gladly assists younger classmates and is a young person with excellent personal culture. Since 2012, he has volunteered at events organized by TOP Bolesławiec, including table-tennis tournaments for people with physical and intellectual disabilities. Since 2015, he has additionally helped younger classmates, including those with disabilities, learn tennis.

Nominees in the non-governmental organization category:

• The “Być i żyć z ludźmi” volunteer group operating at Municipal Gymnasium No. 2 in Bolesławiec – was established in 2010 on the initiative of Anna Rosłanowska-Choryłek and Olimpia Salwerowicz. The students involved in the group engage in charitable activities supporting other people and animals. They cooperate with non-governmental organizations in Bolesławiec, foundations and MOPS. Students undertake many initiatives to help their schoolmates, children from the Children’s Home and MOPS beneficiaries. The group’s innovative approach includes volunteers, under the guidance of educators, working on their personal and social development, building self-esteem and confidence, and developing social skills and competencies. Thanks to these activities, they have the courage to undertake independent initiatives.
• The “Wspólna radość” Association in Bolesławiec – the Association was established through the commitment of several teachers from the County Complex of Special Schools and Institutions in Bolesławiec who, recognizing the social needs of people with disabilities in Bolesławiec County, decided to devote some of their free time, energy and ingenuity to supporting this group. During its two years of activity, the Association created many projects and social campaigns engaging people with disabilities.

Nomination in the donor category:

• Ceramika Artystyczna CERMAZ sp. z o. o., based in Warta Bolesławiecka. Ceramika Artystyczna is a family business that has operated in the local market for 10 years. The company’s main business is ceramic products. This year, Ceramika Artystyczna CERMAZ sponsored the project “Bolesławiec Ceramics Inspired by the Sea – Ceramic and Art Workshops for People with Disabilities and Their Caregivers.”

The ceremony was hosted by Iwona Kuchciak and Maciej Pronkiewicz. The “Stowarzyszenie Kobiet Aktywnych” from Lipiany prepared the sweet refreshments.

The jury that made the selection consists of:

• Dariusz Kwaśniewski – Bolesławiec Starosta – Chair of the Jury
• Barbara Kostyra – Head of the Civic, Social Affairs and Health Department
• Renata Czerwińska – Chief Specialist for County Promotion in the Department of Education and County Promotion,
• Laura Musiał – 2013 Youth Volunteer laureate
• Anna Nowak – 2013 Adult Volunteer laureate
• Stowarzyszenie Równych Szans "EWA" – Ewa Lisiewska – 2013 laureates in the non-governmental organization category
• Colgate Palmolive company – 2013 laureates in the donor category
• Ignacja Kisielewska – 2014 Volunteer Donor laureate
• Kacper Szwed – 2014 Youth Volunteer laureate
• Sister Anna Mikołajewicz – 2014 Adult Volunteer laureate
• School PCK Group at the Electronic Schools Complex named after I. Domeyko in Bolesławiec – 2014 laureates in the non-governmental organization category