Another WOŚP finale is coming. I remember for the first time, I sent money to Owsiak in an envelope, to the radio address of the Program 3. He had his program there. I also remember a friend who admitted that she had asked Owsiak for money for an imaginary purpose. What he did? He sent them to her. He added a note to give it back when she could. But she invented everything and there was no lack of money. As far as I know, she has never given back anything.
The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (GOCC, Polish Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy, WOŚP) is the biggest, non-governmental, non-profit, charity organization in Poland. The name The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity was coined by Jerzy Owsiak in 1991.
The GOCC aims to support health care in Poland by purchase of state of the art medical equipment for Polish hospitals and clinics and by establishing and running six medical programs and one educational program.
Twenty years have passed for then – and this is still somewhere in my head. I do not even know how to name it. People are awful.
However, the action is amazing, great. It makes it possible to unite everyone, to mobilize even the smallest pennies into the can. People who do not think every day that they can share something – they proudly wear hearts glued to their coats.
I always have mixed feelings. Everything is OK. However, why a country like Poland has to support public health services for over twenty years? Should not we be embarrassed that if it was not for Owsiak then most hospitals would not have incubators? Would not it be screening to test the hearing of newborns? Where would our health service be?
At the very thought I have chills. I hope that no one will take away the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity – and we will not see what it would be like if it were not for a national disaster.
Let everybody throw in as much as he can on Sunday – do not tempt fate!