On Sunday, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP) performed for the 32nd time in Poland and several dozen countries around the world. Concerts, runs and festivals took place across the country. The focus of this year’s campaign is ‘Lungs after the pandemic’; the collected money will be used to purchase equipment for the diagnosis, monitoring and rehabilitation of people suffering from lung diseases.
Announced before midnight on Sunday, the collected figure is PLN 175 426 813. The result is not the final amount, this will only be known in a few weeks.
In Poland, almost 120 000 volunteers took to the streets, while abroad a total of 101 centres were organised. In addition to European countries, they included Japan, Indonesia, the United States and Australia. Polish polar stations in the Arctic and Antarctic have once again joined the campaign.
Money is also being collected through online auctions. Various valuable souvenirs and objects can be auctioned off, including participation in ceremonial film premieres, visits to usually inaccessible places or attractive trips in the company of famous people.
Bartosz Zmarzlik put up for auction the motorbike on which he won a gold medal at the speedway World Championships. A dress autographed by Iga Świątek, in which the tennis player appeared during the WTA Finals ceremony, and Robert Lewandowski’s jersey signed by FC Barcelona players were also up for bid.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk put up for auction a pencil of General Władysław Sikorski together with the book The Fall of the Roman Empire with an autograph, and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz a dinner in a military canteen.
The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity has won the hearts of millions of Poles over the past 32 years and has become one of the largest and most recognisable charity events in the world. Since its beginnings, the Orchestra has collected nearly PLN 2 billion to support Polish medicine and has bought more than 71,000 pieces of equipment.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński