On 9 May in Poland, we celebrate the Ophthalmologists and Ophthalmology Day – a very special date for the GOCC Foundation. Since 2001 we have run the Prevention of Retinopathy of Prematurity Programme which aims at providing immediate help to the little heroes in need. Supporting the ophthalmology was also our main objective during the 30th Grand Finale fundraiser in 2022.
The GOCC Foundation is on a mission to save premies’ sight. Our first move was the purchase of seven diode lasers which were later installed in ophthalmology clinics across the country – in Katowice, Łódź, Białystok, Poznań, Szczecin, and Wrocław.
Thanks to our engagement and dedication to the cause over the years, we have managed to equip 21 highly-specialized medical facilities in Poland. The choice of the clinics was preceded by a thourough consideration. Our main objective was to ensure the possibly widest access to a specialised eye care for children born prematurely. Each of the facilities received modern, high-tech devices for retinopathy diagnosis and treatment. We have donated 225 devices to the ophthalmology clinics.
The measure of our programme’s success is the number of little patients who underwent eyesight tests. As many as 273,313 premies have been screened and 11,473 children have their sight saved thanks to our testing. All together we have pledged PLN 17,481,803.19 to support eye medicine for children in Poland.
(data for January 2023)
During the 30th Grand Finale held under the slogan „See the light”, we raised a sum of PLN 224,376,706.35. It was almost PLN 13.5 million more compared to our annual fundraiser in 2021. During the jubilee fundraiser, volunteers from all over the world were collecting money to support the highest standards of children’s eye treatment and diagnosis in the country. It was the first Grand Finale focused on the most important human sense. Thank you!
Thanks to our community’s generosity during the 30th Grand Finale we could have organized the 63rd Open Tender for children’s eye care. During the November Open Tender, we purchased 479 devices worth of PLN 65,416,440:
The equipment was delivered to 83 different facilities in Poland!
This year’s first Open Tender was held on 4 April and was another chance to purchase equipment for children’s eye medicine. The Open Tender focused on 4 types of equipment: a device for biplane angiocardiography, synoptophores, and the equipment for the Simulation Centre for Ophthalmology which will be established at the Children's Memorial Health Institute to help the doctors hone their skills.
After a few hour-long negotiations, the GOCC Foundation purchased 120 devices for 75 facilities in 56 cities in the whole country:
Devices worth PLN 17,58,238.40 were purchased from the funds raised during the 30th Grand Finale.
Thank you for the continuous support for our GOCC Foundation – not only during our Grand Finale fundraiser, but also in our day-to-day work and running medical programmes throughout the year. It is thanks to your engagement that we have managed to raise nearly PLN 2 billion within the last 31 years of our activity and purchase over 70,400 devices.
Less than 60 days before the 32nd Grand Finale fundraiser, the Collection Boxes were presented during a press conference. Just this year, there were 226,000 boxes produced.
On 5 December, we organized the 68th Open Tender dedicated to the aim of the 30th Grand Finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, i.e. paediatric ophthalmology.
Months of preparation, thousands of events around the world and hundreds of thousands of people involved. The 32nd Finale of GOCC is just around the corner! In Warsaw, the Orchestra's heart will be beating the loudest at PGE Narodowy meadows. It is here Jurek Owsiak summed up preparations for the next edition of the fundraising.
