The finale of Poland’s biggest annual charity fundraising event has again smashed its record, with over 175 million zloty (€40 million) donated by the end of Sunday.
The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP), which was first held in 1993, sees around 120,000 volunteers in Poland and abroad collecting donations. Many also organise fundraising events while celebrities offer items for auction.
Among this year’s offerings are a set of espresso cups from the presidential palace (with a current highest bid of 22,300 zloty), a shirt worn by Robert Lewandowski and signed by his fellow Barcelona players (51,100 zloty) and a golf weekend with businessman Rafał Brzoska and his TV presenter wife Omenaa Mensah (230,200 zloty).
Just before midnight, WOŚP announced that it had raised 175,426,813 zloty in total so far, beating last year’s figure of around 154 million zloty. The final amount, which is announced in the spring, will be even higher once all collections and auctions have been completed. Last year’s final total was around 243 million zloty.
🩷Kończymy dzień z kwotą deklarowaną w wysokości 175 426 813 zł!
🩷 Dziękujemy! Bez Was to by się nie udało!Cały czas możecie nas wspierać! Jak? Szczegóły poniżej. 👇https://t.co/X99KA0fc7e
📷Paweł Krupka#wosp2024 pic.twitter.com/xF6XfQ4vxm— WOŚP (@fundacjawosp) January 28, 2024
The money collected by WOŚP is used primarily to buy equipment for Poland’s healthcare system. This year’s focus is on fighting lung disease. Since its launch 30 years ago, WOŚP has raised a total of almost 2 billion zloty, which has been used to purchase over 70,000 pieces of equipment for hospitals.
Despite this, WOŚP is not popular among some Polish conservatives, who dislike the secular, liberal values of its founder, Jerzy Owsiak, and have accused him and his family of benefiting financially from the event.
In 2021, WOŚP drew controversy by allying itself with the Women’s Strike movement that has led protests against a near-total abortion ban that was introduced that year. Last year, it was accused of supporting the election campaign against the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.
One of Poland's largest charities, WOŚP, has been accused of illegally financing the opposition's election campaign.
Its billboards declare: "Poles! Let’s defeat this evil!!! We will win." Only in small letters beneath do they add "against sepsis" https://t.co/d7J3Wu4PfF
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 4, 2023
During PiS’s eight years in power from 2015 until 2023, WOŚP often received a hostile reception from state institutions. In 2017, public broadcaster TVP decided to stop screening the finale of the fundraiser, which instead switched to private station TVN.
However, after PiS was replaced in government last month by a new, more liberal coalition led by Donald Tusk, WOŚP has received greater support from the state.
In a symbolic moment, the former weather presenter of a local TVP branch who was fired in 2021 after wearing WOŚP’s famous red heart logo on air, yesterday returned to the station under its new management to present a live report on fundraising in her city.
Patrycja Kasperczak zniknęła z TVP, bo wystąpiła z czerwonym serduszkiem WOŚP. W telewizji rządzonej przez PiS to była zbrodnia. W niedzielę po trzech latach wróciła na wizję. Szczegóły: https://t.co/yVBjopwHG1 @gazeta_wyborcza @TVP
— Piotr Żytnicki (@PiotrZytnicki) January 28, 2024
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Main image credit: Adam Stepien / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
