On Wednesday, 5 December, the gala of the 2018 Volunteer of the Year of Bolesławiec County competition was held at the Old Theatre in Bolesławiec.
In the adult volunteer category, the nominees were: Halina Małyska; Arkadiusz Żądło; Janina Piestrak-Babijczuk; Paweł Rzemek; Roman Bodak; Mariusz Lickiewicz; Danuta Jasiukiewicz; Agnieszka Mancewicz, Anna Fiedorowicz and Irmina Nowak.
Roman Bodak won, while Janina Piestrak-Babijczuk received an honourable mention.
In the youth volunteer category of Bolesławiec County, the nominees were: volunteers at GOSiR in Osiecznica; Barbara Troszczak; Katarzyna Liput; young people from Zespół Szkół Budowlanych w Bolesławcu; young people from Zespół Szkół Mechanicznych w Bolesławcu and a military group led by Przemysław Woźniak.
Katarzyna Liput was named Youth Volunteer of the Year 2018.
The only non-governmental organisation nominated for the county award—and also its winner—was Hufiec ZHP im. Szarych Szeregów w Bolesławcu.
The nominees in the donor volunteer category of Bolesławiec County were: Wojciech Gąsieniec; Nadleśnictwo Bolesławiec; Tomasz Kozłowski; and Piekarnictwo Ewa i Zdzisław Berezowscy. Tomasz Kozłowski won this category. (His mother accepted the award on his behalf.)
Congratulations.
Profiles of the winners
Roman Bodak
Nominated by the Bolesławiec Regional Branch of the Polish Red Cross. He has been involved in volunteer work with the Polish Red Cross since 1974. He gives talks at schools promoting the idea of voluntary blood donation. On his initiative, the city authorities hold annual meetings with women who are honorary blood donors.
He organised the Polish Chess Championship for honorary blood donors in Bolesławiec. He cooperates with other HDK clubs in Poland and abroad, for example in Trutnov (the Czech Republic).
For many years, he has coordinated the nationwide “Blood for Poland” blood-donation campaign in Bolesławiec. He achieves the best results—for example, in 2018, thanks to his efficiency and commitment, Bolesławiec ranked first in Poland, with donors giving 59 litres of blood.
R. Bodak actively participates in and involves other donors in charitable campaigns organised by the Polish Red Cross in the city, such as the Day Against Hunger and Bolesławiec Star of Kindness. He organises blood collections during the finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity—over two years, he recruited donors who gave 25 litres of blood. He works closely with the Regional Blood Donation and Blood Therapy Centre in Wałbrzych to organise blood collections in Bolesławiec County, in Świętoszów and Nowogrodziec.
He organises trips and integration meetings for donors and their families. Together with other donors, he renovated the premises of the HDK Club at 7 Mickiewicza Street for use as its headquarters. Number of people benefiting from the candidate’s voluntary work: over 400.
Katarzyna Liput
Nominated by Zespół Szkół Elektronicznych w Bolesławcu. She is a second-year student at the technical school of Zespół Szkół Elektronicznych w Bolesławcu. From the beginning of her education at the school, Kasia has been known as a person who is highly socially engaged. Since 2017, she has been chairwoman of the School Polish Red Cross Club at ZSE. She actively participates in nationwide and local campaigns organised under the Polish Red Cross banner, including “A School Kit for the Student”, “Red Cross Christmas”, “Easter Basket” and the “Day Against Hunger”.
Katarzyna and the children she supervised in the school volunteer group also ensured entertainment for children with disabilities—they took part in the “Fun Day for Children with Disabilities from Bolesławiec County”, organised by the Polish Red Cross in Bolesławiec. They ran competitions, games and activities, and also helped prepare refreshments.
Kasia is also a volunteer at the Saint Joseph Children’s Home of the Congregation of the Elizabethan Sisters in Bolesławiec—she visits the facility regularly, at least once a week, and takes part in and helps prepare important events and celebrations. During her weekly visits, she organises games and activities for the children, helps them with homework, and teaches them to ice-skate in winter; she also willingly helps keep the facility tidy and with renovation work.
Kasia’s volunteering extends beyond Bolesławiec and its surroundings. Since 2013, the student has volunteered at summer horse-riding camps in Ząbkowice Śląskie, Srebrna Góra and Lutomia Dolna. Each year, she serves as an “assistant” in running the horse camps. Her duties included feeding the horses, helping bring them in, clean them, saddle them and groom them, assisting campers while riding, cleaning up after the horses, helping maintain order in the stables and paddocks, helping prepare meals, and organising games and activities for campers.
It is difficult to determine how many people benefit from Kasia’s work—they include individuals, schools and institutions. Volunteer work cannot be converted into a specific unit; often, help provided to one person produces beneficial results that extend much further.
Additional recommendations: a certificate from the director of the Children’s Home in Bolesławiec; a certificate of appreciation from the director of ZSE in Bolesławiec for social, charitable and voluntary work in the 2017/2018 school year; a certificate from the owner of the “GAWRA” Equestrian Centre concerning assistance in organising horse camps; certificates for commitment to and work for the scouting movement; and a certificate from the commander of Hufiec Bolesławiec confirming Katarzyna’s active participation in scouting activities.
Tomasz Kozłowski
Nominated by the Active Rehabilitation Foundation—Lower Silesian region in Bolesławiec. Psychologist, consultant and coach; motivational speaker and experienced trainer; author of the book “The History of a Thousand Fears”. Specialist in team diagnosis and leadership, professional MATRIK Management Trainer, Crisis Intervention Specialist, team-building and outdoor trainer. He works on TEAM BUILDING projects in Poland and New Zealand, conducting training that takes intercultural aspects into account, including for officers of the NATO Multinational Corps in 2011. Rescuer with the Karkonosze GOPR Group (mountain rescue instructor), instructor during training for the Polish Army, Police and Special Services, certified qualified first-aid rescuer, ski instructor and parachutist (1,600+ jumps). In December 2014, ascending to the stratosphere in a hot-air balloon, he and two other parachutists made the highest parachute jump in Europe (10,735 m).
He is the author of training projects concerning team functioning in difficult conditions. He completed courses in crisis intervention, psychological support in crisis situations and psychosocial assistance during mass traumatic events. At the request of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, he provided psychological assistance to refugees from Lebanon in July 2016.
He has published works on health psychology and the human factor in mountain accidents, as well as articles on implementing TEAM BUILDING projects and safety when organising extreme integration events. He is invited to the media as an expert; together with Maria Rotkiel, he hosts the programme “Marry Me”. On 21 June 2017, Mr Tomasz Kozłowski, breaking the Polish record twice, made 50 parachute jumps in one day—each jump was dedicated to a seriously ill person, raising over PLN 200,000 for their treatment. For this, he received the CHARITY HERO award.
In this project, he dedicated one of the jumps to the Children’s Home in Bolesławiec, donating PLN 10,000 of his own money, which enabled the children in its care to go on a winter holiday. He dedicated three other jumps to people with disabilities from Bolesławiec, seeking to raise funds for their treatment.
On 27 August this year, Mr Tomasz made 100 parachute jumps in one day, raising over half a million zlotys for 100 specialised wheelchairs for children with disabilities—after the sponsor withdrew, he financed the project from his own funds, explaining that he had to “keep his word”. After completing the hundredth jump, he made one more, setting a new European record. One child with a disability from Bolesławiec also took part in the project and received a new wheelchair.
Number of people benefiting from the candidate’s voluntary work: 80 in 2017; 130 in 2018.
Hufiec ZHP im. Szarych Szeregów w Bolesławcu
Nominated by Bolesławiec County. Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego is an organisation whose work is directed towards helping people. According to its statutes, the goals of ZHP are: creating conditions for the comprehensive development of the individual; shaping the personality of a responsible person; promoting values in society such as freedom, truth, justice, democracy, self-government, equality, tolerance and friendship; enabling interpersonal contacts across all divisions; promoting knowledge about nature and ecology, and fostering the need for contact with nature.
The organisation’s mission is to educate young people by supporting their comprehensive development and character formation through setting challenges.
Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego is an organisation that has existed for 100 years. In Bolesławiec, Hufiec im. Szarych Szeregów operates and has been involved in many charitable and social campaigns over several decades, including volunteering for the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity and food collections. Young people also take part in fundraising for those in need and organise many campaigns themselves.
Every year, the scouts tidy cemeteries and help older people with everyday activities. For many years, they have also helped organise Christmas wafer-sharing integration meetings for people with disabilities from Bolesławiec County. They assist people with disabilities attending the event by helping them reach the sports hall and directing them to their assigned places.
It is also worth mentioning that every commander of a troop or scouting group performs their full-time work voluntarily and out of passion.
Number of people benefiting from the candidate’s voluntary work: residents of the city and county, including approximately 700 people with disabilities who attend the wafer-sharing meetings each year.