Voluntary service

In the beginning, volunteering was not organized by any institutions. With time, churches started to organize help for the poor and people in need. In the second half of 20th century, non- governmental organizations, called NGOs started to appear. Volunteering in post-war Poland was limited to Polish Scouting Association. After 1990 Polish non- governmental organizations started to develop.

What is volunteering? Volunteering is a voluntary and consciously taken activity for the benefit of other people. It is addressed to people, who are not our family and friends.

Voluntary activities are not paid, but they bring a person a lot of other benefits, for example satisfaction, fulfilment and realisations of ambitions.

Who is a volunteer?

It is a person, who turned 16 years old; They should be communicative, cheerful, ready to help without pay; They should be characterized by empathy, responsibility and patience.

Where can volunteers work ? Volunteers are present in institutions, where They can work for the good of other people: in schools, hospitals, hospices, orphanages, NGOs. However, volunteering is not action only for other people. It can also mean taking care of monuments and objects of national and cultural heritage.

Why are they needed? They can perform work part-time; They raise awareness, funds to help the organization; They have new and original ideas, they are not limited by the structure of the organizations; They add more credibility to the action of the organizations.

Voluntary organizations in Poland: The most popular organization in Poland, where volunteers work, is Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy (The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity). Its founder and organizer of its actions is Jurek Owsiak.

WOŚP has been operating for 18 years. They achieved a great success, collecting over 395 million PLN. ( EUR)

Founded on 2nd March 1993, its target is helping people, especially children, by providing hospitals with medical equipment, initiating medical examinations for children on the national scale, and organizing life-saving courses for young people.

Medical equipment donated by The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity

On a Sunday in January, the whole country gathers together to collect money for Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy. Thousands of volunteers around Polish cities and towns walk along the streets asking people to help.

Volunteers collecting money.

Warsaw during the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity

Other Polish institutions that organize work of volunteers and focus on helping others are: Caritas Poland Polish Humanitarian Organization Polish Red Cross

Caritas Poland This action is focused on helping the poor. Among other things, it organizes many collections of food for the most needy families in Poland.

Polish Humanitarian Organization This charity organizes missions to foreign countries, like Chechnya and Afghanistan, where they build schools, water wells, etc. and in Poland they organize a nationwide campaing called „Pajacyk”, which aims at feeding children from poor families at their schools.

Polish Red Cross Polish Red Cross deals with caring activities like social services, promoting and organizing blood donation, helping victims of disaster situations at home and abroad.

Polish Red Cross Polish Red Cross deals with the other caring activities, with social services, promoting and organizing blood donation, help victims and disaster situations at home and abroad, dissemination of humane.

The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity in Gorlice Last year, WOŚP collected money for sick children in Gorlice. 150 volunteers collected , 33 PLN in the entire district. Altogether the people of Gorlice gave over PLN ( EUR) for WOŚP.

Caritas in Gorlice Gorlice district manages the following institutions: Kitchen for the poor- was opened on 16th May There you can buy food and dinners. In this way you support the poor people in our town. Rehabilitation-protective house for 50 children and disabled young people with mental handicap.

Źródła grafiki / sources od graphics : - weblog.infopraca.pl - wolontariat.org.pl - opierkunowie.pl - odyssei.com/wolontariat - picasaweb.google.com - un.org - digart.pl - caritas.pl - swidnica.caritas.pl - malopolska.naszemiasto.pl - grpck.czechowice-dziedzice.pl - polishaid.gov.pl - pck.pl

Thank you for your attention