POLISH
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .WO¦P
in Poland:
http://www.wosp.org.pl/
....
. . is the biggest and most prosperous charity organization in Poland. Its objectives, included in the status document, are saving children's lives, health promotion and education in the field of preventive treatment. Between 1993 and 2006 The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity has collected and spent over $65 million r saving lives. Beside humanitarian work the Foundation is also a powerful medium spreading the ideology of kindness, friendship, tolerance, and openness.
In 1992, Jurek Owsiak, a well-established performer and the author of an avant-garde TV and radio show,, used his pop-culture status to help the under-financed Pediatric Cardio Surgery Division in The Children's Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw.
In his TV show, targeting very young and considered at the time rebellious audiences, he said that cardio surgeons from The Children's Memorial Health Institute cannot perform surgeries on babies with inborn heart defects due to the lack of funds for the medical equipment and they count on financial support. Owsiak encouraged his audiences to join the forces and help. His idea was to combine rock'n'roll, fun, and charity to achieve this end. He believed in the great potential of the people getting together regardless of whether they had much or little money.
In March of 1993 Jerzy registered the Foundation of The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity.
Jerzy Owsiak, Lidia Niedzwiedzka-Owsiak, Bohdan Maruszewski, and Piotr Burczynski have become the members.
On the first Sunday of 1993 he organized a nation-wide action. He invited Poles all around the country to set up concerts, creative happenings, and parties during which they could collect change that would later be contributed to the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity account. It was The Great Finale and thousands participated.The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity collected over 1,5 million US$! The sum was spent for the highly modern and professional equipment for 10 Pediatric Cardio Surgery Divisions in Poland.
Even though The Great Final Day was supposed to be a one-time event it turned out to be such a smashing success that Jurek Owsiak and the doctors from the Children's Memorial Health Institute repeated the whole thing next year and then the year after that. Eventually, The Great Final Day became a tradition. The sum of money collected is increasing every year.
In ten years the Foundation has completed eight gigantic projects. It has bought the medical equipment needed for umerous pediatric divisions specializing in: cardio-surgery, neonatal medicine, oncology, post-traumatic surgery, pediatric nephrology, diagnostics, newborns' surgery, and newborns & children under 5 years old divisions.
All together, over 10 thousands pieces of the most modern medical equipment for Polish Public Hospitals waspurchased and distributed to public hospitals all around Poland. Among others the Foundation has bought: ambulances, incubators, physiologic monitors, oxygen blenders, infusion and drainage pumps, pulse oximeters, infant ventilators, new beds, anti-bed-sore mattresses and many, many more.