Barbara Smoleńska, head of the Bolesławiec Society of Friends of Lviv and the Southeastern Borderlands and a teacher at the Henryk Sucharski General and Vocational Schools Complex in Bolesławiec:
We delivered approximately 800 Christmas greeting cards (including greetings in Ukrainian), 90 parcels for families of Polish descent, around 1,000 chocolates for children and two cartons of school supplies. We received such a large number of Christmas cards, sweets and school supplies from young people and children from schools and preschools in Bolesławiec, Gromadka, Osła, Raciborowice and Kruszyn.
We sincerely thank everyone, because thanks to so many kind-hearted people we were able to deliver greetings and small gifts to children and young people from three schools in Zbarazh and the school in Sieniawa (we are cleaning up the cemetery there), as well as to parishioners of the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Anthony in Zbarazh. We also travelled with greetings and a Christmas parcel to the village of Stryjówka, to the family of Bolesławiec resident Mr Józef Pokładek.
The organisers extend special thanks for support in preparing the Christmas trip to:
- the students and teachers of Primary Schools No. 1, 2 and 5 in Bolesławiec; the Primary Schools in Raciborowice, Osła, Gromadka and Kruszyn; the Construction Schools Complex and the General and Vocational Schools Complex
- the children and their parents from Preschools No. 1, 3 and 7, as well as Jacek and Agatka Preschool
- the Pedagogical Library, PCK, ZHP, the Association of Polish Teachers’ Union Retirees and Pensioners Section, and TMLiKPW
- Mr Mirosław Seneszyn and everyone who helped, even to the smallest extent, prepare gifts for the residents of the partner city of Zbarazh.
The trip was organised by Barbara Smoleńska. The delegation included students Kornelia Faryniarz (4TE), Klaudia Kozłowska (2BSZ) and Paweł Rzeźwicki (2BSZ), as well as driver Leon Smoleński. The other delegation members were Bogdan Mazurkiewicz, Dorota Mazurkiewicz and Tomasz Sadowski, who flew to Ukraine.
Trip organiser:
Everyone stayed with friendly families, each in a different home. The time spent together with friends from Zbarazh made the young people become very close. It was heartwarming to see how difficult it was for them to part. For a long time during the return journey, they continued recalling the pleasant and valuable time they had spent in Zbarazh.