The awards ceremony in the “Volunteer of the Year of Bolesławiec County 2012” competition is behind us. This year, 19 people and organizations were nominated for this prestigious distinction. The competition jury consisted of: Cezary Przybylski, Jadwiga Bobek, Barbara Kostyra, Renata Czerwińska, Adam Fornal and Danuta Zielińska.

Krzysztof Gwizdała
Janina MajewskaJanina Majewska • Krzysztof Gwizdała

The nominees in the adult volunteer category were:

  • Joanna Przybilska – worked as a volunteer at the Day Care Home in Bolesławiec and has the aptitude to work with older people. She is patient and understanding, and quickly gained the trust of those in her care. She showed understanding for older people and helped organize the facility’s activities
  • Lidia Uchacz – is part of a group of people who work each month receiving food into the warehouse and distributing it. Several tons of food pass through her hands; she distributes huge quantities of flour, rice and groats. She is always smiling and kind to people collecting EU aid. She is active in the Association for Helping Children and Young People with Physical Disabilities at TPD in Bolesławiec and is the mother of 37-year-old Waldemar, who has a disability
  • Bogusława Wolak – participates in organizing all TPD events and campaigns: summer camps, an integration Christmas wafer meeting for people with disabilities, food collections and food distribution under PEAD “Aid for the Poorest Residents of Bolesławiec County.” She cooperates with school counselors and works to help rejected and poor children and children with family problems. She conducts effective family mediation. She shows great commitment and empathy toward the problems of the families and children she works with
  • Marcin Klimkowski – is involved in helping people with disabilities. He helps organize integration Christmas wafer meetings for people with disabilities and special events, such as bonfires and gatherings for the disabled community. He helped raise funds to purchase a sports wheelchair for an athlete with a disability. He provides assistance as a minibus driver. For several years, he has prepared CDs with photographs from events and integration trips for people with disabilities, as well as CDs for every participant in integration summer-camp sessions. He is an active member of the Masters Bolesławiec Swimming Club. He runs the Club’s website, helps organize events and referees during the “Powiatowa 50-tka” integration swimming competitions for upper-secondary schools. Klimkowski is also a member of the Social Municipal Sports Council
  • Paweł Makówka – is a born volunteer who has been helping the Society of Friends of Children in Bolesławiec for many years. He started as a small boy together with his brothers. His help can always be counted on when organizing an integration Christmas wafer meeting for people with disabilities; he is active and full of ideas. For him, there is nothing that cannot be done if one really wants to do it. He helps with events organized by both the County and the City. For several years, he has helped unload food and also comes during distribution to help carry food products
  • Anita Nakonieczna – is a volunteer undertaking various activities at school and in the city. She organizes assistance for people affected by poverty, disability, social exclusion and discrimination through the following activities:
    • at school, she organizes student activities in the field of volunteering. Thanks to her, other school teachers also became involved in volunteer work. Her work preparing the Integration Christmas Wafer Meeting for People with Disabilities deserves special recognition; the teacher actively encourages young people to participate
    • she took part in Bone Marrow Donor Day campaigns together with teachers and student volunteers
    • For eight years, she has co-organized charitable collections for various social causes
    • in December 2011, she co-organized a conference on the problems of the “Horn of Africa” (poverty, malnutrition and drought). As part of the “Year of Solidarity with Somalia,” representatives of the “Foundation for Somalia” and the Polish Humanitarian Action were invited to the conference for lower- and upper-secondary students from our county
    • she is one of 20 Polish activists of the Polish Humanitarian Action as part of the “Get Involved” campaign, whose task is to coordinate local activities for the global community. She cooperates with Amnesty International, spreading knowledge about human rights and global issues
    In addition, Anita Nakonieczna is an active member of the Polish Red Cross. She conducts classes on hospice volunteering, combating discrimination and career counseling for ZSOiZ students. She cooperates with a non-public psychological and pedagogical counseling center and community centers as a volunteer and career counselor in Bolesławiec
  • Zbigniew Herbut – is an active member of the Polish Red Cross and a volunteer undertaking various activities at school and in the city. For many years, he has provided students with education in first aid and human rights during extracurricular classes. He organizes assistance for people affected by poverty, disability and social exclusion. At school, he coordinates student activities in the field of volunteering. Thanks to his ability to engage people, other school teachers also became involved. His work preparing two important projects deserves special recognition:
    • the Integration Christmas Wafer Meeting for People with Disabilities (around 1,000 people); for several years, he has actively encouraged young people to participate, regularly bringing together around 100 volunteers (students and teachers) to serve those attending the meeting
    • a St. Andrew’s party for children with disabilities (around 100 children); for several years, on behalf of the Polish Red Cross, he has coordinated preparations with young people to provide full support for this integration event
    He organizes and coordinates:
    • Bone Marrow Donor Day
    • blood collection campaigns
    • meetings with representatives of foundations (the Urszula Jaworska Foundation, Poltransplant) involved in education about transplantation and tissue and organ transplants
    • charitable collections for various social causes
    • campaigns sending greeting cards to seriously ill children
    • fundraising for a seriously ill child
    • fundraising for UNICEF
    • the Red Cross Run, Polish Red Cross Exercises and World Hunger Day
    • first-aid demonstrations and training sessions in various schools, institutions and associations.
    His personal activity, ability to establish contacts and encourage other people, organizations and associations to act—not only within the city—deserves emphasis. The innovation of his activities is also noteworthy. This translates into great interest among young people in this form of social involvement.
    Zbigniew Herbut is also active in the Tulipan Family Allotment Garden, for which he conducts various educational activities and edits the garden’s website. He serves as deputy president of the allotment garden association
  • Jan Doktor – devotes his free time to the problems of older people, often those living alone. From the organization’s available funds, he ensures that the poorest receive financial assistance. Every year, his priority is food parcels for retired people living alone on the occasion of Christmas and Easter. He visits sick people in hospitals and at home, offering not only parcels but also words of comfort and any assistance. He devotes not only his free time but also his private car and fuel. He is a kind-hearted person who helps those in need every day
  • Janina Piestrak-Babijczuk – has been associated with the hospital for years, where she worked from 1968. When she retired, she did not sever her connection with medicine and patients, but continued helping as a volunteer. Piestrak-Babijczuk tirelessly devotes her time and skills to those in need, helping them and providing health advice. She still helps patients, seeing them regularly twice a week at the surgical clinic, showing great compassion especially to children and older people. She sees around 250 patients per month on average, most of them children.
    She performs her duties with a great sense of responsibility. Her colleagues value her not only for her professionalism but also for her loyalty and kindness toward others. She is widely respected and liked, as shown by the steadily growing number of patients seeking her advice. She never refuses to help another person. Such long-term unpaid work for patients in one’s free time is remarkable and unusual in the medical community

In this category, Zbigniew Herbut won, while distinctions went to: Janina Piestrak-Babijczuk, Bogusława Wolak and Marcin Klimkowski.

The nominees in the non-governmental organization category were:

  • Stowarzyszenie Ziemia Bolesławiecka – is the only organization in the county that makes its account available to anyone in need. Between 2004 and 2012, the association raised PLN 739,557.99 from the 1% tax allocation, donated by 12,576 taxpayers. These funds were used entirely to support individuals and institutions. In 2012, 28 people received assistance in this way, totaling PLN 81,361.36 for treatment and rehabilitation costs. Assistance was also provided to two families whose homes had been damaged by fire
    The association supports 27 different institutions and organizations, including schools, sports clubs, parishes, cultural institutions and an association of people with disabilities. For years, the organization has supported the Museum of Ceramics in publishing the “Bolesławiec Yearbook.” In May 2012, it co-organized a charity concert for Laura Lubieniewska. The association brings together and supports parents of children with intellectual disabilities, helping solve health and organizational problems. No one in need has left the association without support
  • Stowarzyszenie Społeczne – Klub Nauczycielski Carpe Diem in Bolesławiec currently has 102 active members. All of the association’s activities are voluntary in nature:
    • club meetings four times a month
    • exhibitions, vernissages, poetry evenings and meetings with interesting people
    • effective cooperation with municipal and county governments
    • trips not only “nearby.”
    The association takes pride in innovative activities that have an invaluable impact on creating intergenerational understanding:
    • signing a partnership agreement for cooperation between lower-secondary students and seniors
    • initiating competitions and educational programs that shape young people’s attitudes and build intergenerational bonds
    • cooperation with the German-Polish Society in Saxony and the Frauenkirche Foundation in Dresden
    • a series of lectures organized in cooperation with the county office on health-related topics
    • Misterium Chleba
    • preparing the Senior Social Map
    • Eugenia Wolska is chairwoman of the Municipal Council for Seniors and was invited to cooperate with the team for older people in the Senate of the Republic of Poland
    The activities undertaken by the association are systematic and consistently implement its adopted program, making them effective. As a result, schools, cultural institutions, city and county authorities recognize the needs of seniors and gradually address them. The members’ social commitment is recognized by local-government authorities, institution and school directors, and county and city councillors, who support seniors’ initiatives and often become volunteers themselves.

The Volunteer of the Year title went to Carpe Diem.

The nominees among donor volunteers were:

  • Colgate-Palmolive – the company supports the Association of People with Disabilities by donating toothpaste free of charge (in 2009, this amounted to 16,000 tubes). In subsequent years, through 2012 inclusive, the company donated more than 40,000 tubes, equivalent to approximately PLN 240,000 in financial support. As a result, SON members have not had to purchase toothpaste for several years. In addition, twice a year, each delivery provides toothpaste to the Children’s Home in Bolesławiec and the II Community Self-Help Home in Bolesławiec. The association also occasionally supports the Polish Diabetes Association, the Polish Association of the Blind, the Carpe Diem Association and other organizations in the county with the toothpaste it receives. The association is not the only entity supported by Colgate-Palmolive; many other organizations in Lower Silesia receive similar assistance
  • Antonina Kopała-Wdowiak and Jarosław Giszter – the “Oleńka” restaurant in Bolesławiec – have supported the Social Association Carpe Diem Teachers’ Club logistically and substantively for 10 years, sponsoring it and providing a venue for events such as Misterium Chleba and Christmas. They arrange table decorations free of charge, making the meetings festive occasions. This contributes to improving the quality of life of retired teachers from Bolesławiec and Bolesławiec County, who do not feel socially excluded because of their age. They participate in the Christmas Kindness event, sponsoring stalls with pierogi and borscht. They help the Parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Bolesławiec by sponsoring carnival gatherings at the Galeria Banquet Center
  • Janina Majewska – has repeatedly demonstrated her commitment to and support for non-governmental organizations operating in the city. For many years, she has worked very actively with the Bolesławiec District Branch Board of the Polish Red Cross. She is a passionate advocate of volunteering and working for people in need. For many years, she has been part of the city’s Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity staff, organizing a lottery, collecting materials and raising funds. She provides invited Polish Red Cross guests, including those from Germany, with accommodation free of charge. She actively participates in Red Cross Fairs, obtaining prizes and running lotteries. For every holiday, she prepares parcels for poor people in the city and delivers them herself. She donates food and clothing to those staying at the Polish Red Cross shelter for homeless people. She participates in World Hunger Day by cooking pea soup distributed during the Polish Red Cross campaign. She helps organize Szpikolada, an educational initiative whose goal is to register bone marrow donors and raise money for bone marrow research
  • Beata and Zbigniew Partyka, “Big Pol” civil partnership, Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale in Bolesławiec – since 2008, they have been warmly involved in and helped prepare integration Christmas wafer meetings for people with disabilities from Bolesławiec County. They provide crates of fruit—apples, oranges, bananas and mandarins—and sandwich ingredients free of charge, not only for the “wafer meeting” but also for integration summer camps organized by TPD. The total value of assistance provided for the “wafer meeting” is approximately PLN 1,000. The Partyks are the kindest “wafer-meeting” donors.

The winner was Janina Majewska; distinctions went to Antonina Kopała-Wdowiak and Jarosław Giszter, as well as Beata and Zbigniew Partyka.

The nominees in the youth volunteer category were:

  • Sandra Słobodzian – a student who has been actively involved in the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity for four years. In addition to collecting donations in the city, she found sponsors. In 2012, she raised the most funds of all the volunteers collecting donations. Through her example, she attracts more people to volunteer work
  • Grzegorz Makówka – is a born volunteer who has been helping the Society of Friends of Children in Bolesławiec for many years. He started as a small boy together with his brothers. His help can always be counted on when organizing an integration Christmas wafer meeting for people with disabilities; he is active and full of ideas. For him, there is nothing that cannot be done if one really wants to do it. He is the president’s right-hand man for so-called technical matters.
    For several years, he has helped unload food and also comes during distribution to help carry food products
  • Anna Rospond – initiates and organizes many school and extracurricular campaigns. She has many outside interests. She is active in several clubs and associations. She helps administer the school website. She is a natural leader and a student with broad horizons. The student stands out for her high personal culture, generosity and activities for others. She is highly empathetic, always helpful and friendly, and helps other peers catch up with their studies. She regularly participates in charitable campaigns organized by the school and the Polish Red Cross, such as the Christmas Wafer Meeting for People with Disabilities (for 1,000 people). Every year, she is the coordinator and volunteer for:
    • the Polish Red Cross Marathon
    • World Hunger Day observances
    • the Polish Red Cross Fair held annually in May, combined with a blood donation campaign and bone marrow donor registration
    • Bone Marrow Donor Days, “Szpikolada”
    • the Polish Red Cross “Easter Basket” campaigns held every April
    • the “School Starter Kits” campaign organized for Polish Red Cross beneficiaries in September
    • the “Red Cross Exercises”
    • the Polish Humanitarian Action in organizing the Local Festival Global, held in Bolesławiec as part of the “Get Involved” project
    As a volunteer at the St. Joseph Children’s Home in Bolesławiec, she organized free time and integration activities for those in its care and initiated a Christmas fair of the children’s artwork.
    Anna Rospond cooperates with Caritas Poland in collections and food drives for beneficiaries as part of the “I Help” campaign. As part of a school project organized in cooperation with Wrocław Television, “Save your great-grandfather’s grave from oblivion,” she participated in fundraising for students’ trip to Ukraine. Since December 2012, she has coordinated efforts to establish the EURODESKU Youth Volunteer Center in Bolesławiec.

The 2012 Volunteer of the Year title went to Grzegorz Makówka.

(information: Bolesławiec County/ii)