A nationwide fundraising collection in the churches of the Diocese of Legnica was announced for Sunday, 21 November. Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, metropolitan archbishop of Poznań and chairman of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, appealed to the faithful and people of good will to support it.

In his appeal, Archbishop Gądecki emphasised that migrants need spiritual and material support. The chairman of the Bishops’ Conference appealed for solidarity with migrants and for showing humanitarian and Christian sensitivity.

We asked the spokesperson for the Diocese of Legnica, Fr Waldemar Wesołowski, about the collection for migrants at the Polish-Belarusian border. The spokesperson assured us that each parish is sufficiently independent to organise such a collection on its own, without waiting for instructions from the Bishop of Legnica. However, on Saturday, 20 November, he informed the editorial office that the official announcement of the collection had just been published on the diocesan website.

In response to the appeal of the Chairman of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, on 21 November (Sunday) we are joining the nationwide fundraising collection for migrants from the Polish-Belarusian border (collection in cans). (...) The collected donations should be paid into the account of Caritas of the Diocese of Legnica at BNP Paribas S.A., account no. 04 1600 1156 1847 4540 1000 0001, with the note: “Migration crisis”.

The news from the Polish-Belarusian border is alarming. The latest information from rescuers with the Polish Center for International Aid was tragic.

At 2:26 a.m. (18 November 2021 – editor’s note), we received a report that at least one person currently in the forest needed medical assistance. At the scene, it turned out that three people were injured. They had been in the forest for a month and a half!

The man mentioned in the report was dehydrated and hungry and had severe lower-abdominal pain. The other migrants were a Syrian married couple. According to another post by the rescuers, the man had a laceration on his arm, while the woman had a puncture wound to her lower leg.

Their one-year-old child died in the forest.

(info: Salam Lab)

You can also help secular organisations by sending money to the fundraiser: Help from the Grupa Granica at the Polish-Belarusian border or Build the Peace Laboratory with us and support refugees | SalamLab.pl.