This is truly a magical Christmas story. Tadeusz Załęga, who had been staying at the Polish Red Cross shelter in Bolesławiec since 2004, has received a social apartment and will spend his first Christmas in his own four walls.
He came to the shelter straight from the streets, essentially. He had no family, and his wandering began back in the 1990s. He slept wherever he could, often outdoors. But when one winter arrived, it turned out that the Bolesławiec facility was the only institution where he could stay. That decision and that institution, as he himself admits, saved his life.
Danuta Zielińska, head of the PCK shelter in Bolesławiec, says that Mr. Tadeusz is like a member of the family. He was always happy to help at the facility, for example by delivering correspondence or doing small shopping errands. In spring, he always brought the shelter the first pussy willow branches. And whenever the weather was warm, the facility never lacked fresh flowers—thanks precisely to the man who is now a former homeless resident.
Since Mr. Tadeusz is a person with a disability and cannot lift heavy objects, he worked only occasional jobs. (Some Bolesławiec residents may remember him from the Orzeł cinema, where he worked as a projectionist many years ago.) He could not afford to rent an apartment. Fortunately, after 17 years, he has a social apartment—the one he had been waiting for so long.
The apartment is already furnished, with help from the PCK, his fellow shelter residents—one of whom painted the apartment free of charge—and his new neighbors. As D. Zielińska herself admits, her former resident is managing well. This is also a small success for the Bolesławiec facility.
He is not the first shelter resident to get back on his feet, either. In fact, such situations occur year after year: some homeless people undergo therapy, while others start families. Some leave. And every story of this kind brings great joy to PCK staff.
The shelter certainly will not forget Mr. Tadeusz. An invitation for the holidays is guaranteed, and a food parcel is also waiting for the former resident.
The man himself dreams only that his health will hold up so that he can live in his own home for as long as possible.