The nominees included: Beata Żuromska, Dariusz Mucha, Piotr Hetel, Klaudia Pruszyńska, Kacper Szwed, Jan Goleński, Paulina Mikutel, Liliana Scelina, Wiktoria Kot, Barbara Niedoszytko and Stowarzyszenie Ziemia Bolesławiecka.
Here are the winners:
- youth volunteer: Kacper Szwed
- adult volunteer: Beata Żuromska
- donor volunteer: Barbara Niedoszytko
- volunteer – non-governmental organization: Ziemia Bolesławiecka.
Honorable mentions went to: Klaudia Pruszyńska, Wiktoria Kot and Jan Goleński.
Below we present profiles of all the nominees:
- Beata Żuromska: she is a kind and sensitive person. The activities undertaken by Ms. Beata repeatedly inspire admiration among those around her. She 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, Góra Grosza and Szlachetna Paczka campaigns. She also co-organizes a Christmas wafer-sharing gathering for people with disabilities from Bolesławiec County, St. Andrew’s parties and the Day to Fight Hunger. 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
- Dariusz Mucha; a kind and helpful man with a heart of gold. He helps the “Olimpijczyk” Special Olympics Club in Bolesławiec, operating at the County Complex of Schools and Special-Education Institutions in Bolesławiec. A social-minded coach, he can win over young people with intellectual disabilities and motivate them to work hard, enabling them to achieve sporting success, develop their character and learn competition and cooperation. He devotes his free time to preparing special-school students for numerous tournaments and sporting competitions held במסגרת the Special Olympics. In 2014, he received an honorable mention in the adult volunteer category
- Piotr Hetel. A person whose great passion is community work. For years, he has been involved in initiatives aimed at supporting and helping people in need. He helps people with disabilities and their families, provides free legal advice and sponsors the activities of many non-governmental organizations. He takes part in campaigns supporting those in need, sparing neither his own money nor time. For years, he has supported the poorest clients of Social Welfare Centers. He supported a seven-person family that had lost its home. He participates in social campaigns aimed at promoting reading among preschool children
- Klaudia Pruszyńska, a student at the 1st General Secondary School in Bolesławiec. She is helpful, hardworking and very well organized. She achieves very good academic results and takes part in every initiative intended to help others. She gets along well with her peers and is active in the Student Council. She has been working there for two years. She completes every task entrusted to her on time, conscientiously and accurately. She treats volunteering as a service of the soul and heart, through which she can help and bring happiness to people, bringing a spark of joy and hope for a better tomorrow into their lives. Winner of the 2015 Volunteer of the Year Competition of Bolesławiec County in the youth volunteer category
- Kacper Szwed, a young man involved in volunteering for years. He combines good academic results (an olympiad and competition winner, and a participant in the Erasmus program) with work for others. He can boast a broad range of activities in various areas of life. He is a final-year student at the 1st General Secondary School in Bolesławiec. He is very reliable and can always be counted on. He wins awards and distinctions in olympiads and competitions at school, regional and national levels. For years, he has been involved in the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity and Szlachetna Paczka campaigns. Throughout the summer holidays, he worked as a volunteer, including at Bosco Albergati. He took part in the Best Youth Initiative competition organized by Semper Avanti. Outside school, Kacper runs a fan page for his hometown, Gierałtów, as well as for the Bolesławiec County Youth Council
- Liliana Scelina, a third-year student at the 1st General Secondary School in Bolesławiec. She has become known as a person who is committed to her work, open to the needs of others, tolerant and sensible. The volunteer is dependable, able to work in a team and not indifferent to the harm suffered by others. She engages in community activities, including Caritas food drives, organizing Children’s Day and the Gwiazdka Życzliwości event
- Paulina Mikutel, a first-year student at the School Complex of Construction in Bolesławiec. A warm and very kind volunteer, she is open to the needs of others. She willingly engages in volunteer activities, encouraging others to help through her example. She can serve as an example and role model for others. She can be found at charity events organized by the Polish Red Cross and Caritas. She is a winner of the Young Hawk of Bolesławiec award.
- Wiktoria Kot, a student at the School Complex of Commerce and Services in Bolesławiec. As part of her volunteering, she actively helps organize special events organized by MOPS or cooperating entities for the municipality’s residents. Wiktoria helps organize Children’s Day. She assists in organizing Gwiazdka Życzliwości and the Christmas tree party. She takes part in a food drive organized by Caritas. The volunteer systematically cooperates with the Volunteer Center. She is open to all proposals for providing help. She is also a winner of the Young Hawk of Bolesławiec award in the volunteer category.
- Jan Goleński, a third-year student at the Public Middle School of the Piarist Order. Kind and helpful, he willingly assists younger female and male classmates—he is a young man with excellent manners. Since 2015, he has volunteered at the Special Olympics Club, helping conduct table-tennis training and swimming lessons for people with intellectual and physical disabilities. He has strong educational aptitudes, even though he works in a group of his peers and older people. Tactfully and effectively, he can correct inappropriate—including often impulsive—behavior among people with intellectual disabilities. The results of Jasio Goleński’s work as a volunteer include the regular participation of people with intellectual disabilities in training, increased personal resourcefulness and greater independence during training
- Stowarzyszenie Ziemia Bolesławiecka collects, distributes and administers funds for beneficiaries without deducting the operating costs of handling 1% income-tax donations; these costs are covered by the Association’s membership fees. Thanks to the funds collected, it helps many people in need: people with disabilities, the poor and those struck by misfortune, as well as social organizations and institutions. The Association effectively supports local culture, education, art and sport. It is the only organization helping entities without public-benefit organization status obtain funds from the 1% tax allocation. In 2016, through the Association, 112 people, organizations and institutions—including sports clubs, schools, non-governmental organizations and the Children’s Home—obtained PLN 300,929.59 from the 1% income-tax allocation. The number of beneficiaries receiving help from the Association increases every year. The volunteer work of the Association’s members is effective and efficient.
- Barbara Niedoszytko, who runs Salon Fryzjerski Szyk in Bolesławiec. Together with her employees, she has provided free hairdressing services for many years to students of the County Complex of Schools and Special-Education Institutions in Bolesławiec. Younger children receive haircuts, while older students attending upper-secondary school (the School Preparing for Work) also receive hair coloring and styling. Ms. Barbara is tactful and knows how to treat each person so that, in addition to receiving a professional service, they can spend time pleasantly and without stress while being groomed. Proper service, kindness and a smile make students happy to return to the salon. Anyone who asks to use the service receives it. So far, approximately 30 students have benefited from the assistance, some of them repeatedly.