We are midway through the day of the 29th Grand Finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, and we might just be on track to beat the donation totals of the previous Finales.
For the second time in our foundation’s history, all donations will be benefiting paediatric laryngology, otorhinolaryngology, and head diagnostics—AKA children’s ear, nose and throat medicine.
“In recent years, we have received huge numbers of requests for high-end medical devices that not only successfully diagnose and heal, but are also comfortable for, and do not scare, our healthcare system’s youngest patients. And, in a world blanketed by smog and ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, effective respiratory diagnostics are all the more important,” says Lidia Owsiak, Medical Affairs Director of the GOCC Foundation.
We are fortunate to not be alone in this mission. This year’s Grand Finale partners and sponsors have put together a host of amazing initiatives to help us reach and surpass our fundraising goals.
Our top picks: online Allegro auctions
The Polish online auction platform Allegro is a long-term GOCC partner, playing with the Great Orchestra for the 21st year running. At the moment of writing this article, you can bid on over 300 thousand GOCC auctions on the portal, with the full buying price benefitting this year’s Grand Finale goal.
Take some time to scroll through Allegro and you’ll find, among others:
* Radek Kotarski’s book, “Inaczej”, and… his Ferrari! This was the first listed Allegro auction for this year’s GOCC Grand Finale. The well-known Polish journalist and vlogger announced this unique auction on his YouTube channel.
* A trip in the driver’s cab of a city train in Warsaw. The invitation also includes the opportunity to see the behind-the-scenes of the Warsaw train system in Odolany.
* A walk through Warsaw with the theatre and television legend, Andrzej Grabowski. Any fan of the Polish film scene will leap at the opportunity!
* A sports afternoon with Adam Bielecki. You can spend the afternoon with Himalayan climber and mountaineer in Poznań. He’s offering two hours of bouldering together.
* The popular singer Kayah is auctioning off a unique jacket with over 30 celebrities’ signatures. She has gotten autographs of a former Polish First Lady Jolanta Kwaśniewska, singers Beata Kozidrak, Kasia Kowalska, and Viki Gabor, rapper Pezet, conductor Adam Sztaba, and many others.
Play: with us for the 10th time
Poland’s biggest mobile network, Play, is an especially active partner of our charity. They have provided lanyards and face masks to our tens of thousands of volunteers. Clients of the biggest Polish mobile network, Play, can join our fundraiser through the app Play24. Play also developed the **official app of the 29th Grand Finale**, and GOCC-themed games for their website, playdlawosp.pl. The more donations are made through the app, the more mini-games are unlocked for your enjoyment!
Raise a glass (of juice) to Dawtona, for the 4th time!
Dawtona is another very active partner of our Foundation and events we host. This year, they put out a limited edition Dawtona Tomato Juice with a label designed by Jurek Owsiak himself. This juice, along with their tomato ketchups, support our Get Even with Diabetes program—including the Get Even with Diabetes Run.
Lavazza: caffeinating our Finales for the 1st time
The company is hosting unique auctions that will help you all get a taste of true Italian coffee. In Poland, they keep our doctors and nurses caffeinated - Lavazza and their Polish distributor Orbico supply 200 ERs and infectious disease wards with a donation of 6 TONS of coffee.
The ride-sharing app Uber is supporting our organisers and volunteers with free rides, and online Allegro auctions feature a year of free Uber rides donated by the company.
As one of the many online donation options, we have offers donating via mBank, who adds 1000 PLN to the first one hundred donations each day.
mBank also offers a unique Grand Finale-themed payment card designed by Jurek Owsiak.
Lovella is supporting us for the first time, changing their product line to include the GOCC heart and hosting their own eCollection Box.
We have already collected 43 152 614 PLN - or over 9.5 million Euro! But it’s not over yet, so continue donating and supporting us! We will be announcing the collection total at the beginning of April.
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.
Warsaw, Poland, the world! The enthusiasm which exploded in our country in 1993 has reached the most distant corners of the world in a flash. Already during the very first Grand Finale, we were present across the ocean!
Five days before the 32nd Grand Finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, we visited the 'Pomnik - Centrum Zdrowia Dziecka' (Children's Memorial Health Institute) to ceremoniously inaugurate the first Ophthalmic Simulation Laboratory in Europe dedicated exclusively to the field of peadiatric ophthalmology.
