Szlachetna Paczka

Abroad, especially in the Anglo-saxon circle, giving donations to charity is one of methods of underlining one’s social status. There is something hypocritic about it and it seems helping the disadvantaged in a secondary goal. Nevertheless, despite its roots and drivers, the system of transfers from the richer part of the society to foundations and other organisations taking care of those not better off does function.

In Poland this is still in the making; few people engage in charity, though many I know do it without boasting of it. Still a wealthy Pole is usually a child of not necessarily wealthy parents and most likely a grandchild of not wealthy grandparents. Thus Poles are focused on feathering their own nests, according to my observation, revel in lavish, reckless consumerism (recent blekfrajdej being a glaring example of what I detest).

I believe once you a reach a certain status of comfortable affluence (i.e. you have bought yourself all stuff you need to have your basic needs met and have put aside money for a rainy duty, it is your duty not just to be a decent citizen to pay taxes and share your income via official redistribution system, but also to share your wealth voluntarily. I am ashamed I have realised it quite late, i.e. after buying my dreamt-up flat from money scrimped and saved over eight years spent in a corporation. Currently, I with no desire to move to a posher property, nor planning purchase of a new car, no prospects of raising a family in near future, I can put aside, not holding myself back from spending money on whatever infrequent whims I have, a five-digit or six-digit amount of PLN (depending on how generous a yearly bonus is) for no specific purpose. I feel no temptation to splurge this money foolishly, but I have felt a strong desire to share it without who cannot even dream of affluence I have.

Last year, while being in the middle of the time-consuming flat refurbishment, I donated a rather small amount of money to Szlachetna Paczka. This year, apart other activities, I have decided to sacrifice my time and buy “components” of the gift package and raise money for the initiative via facebook. I have joined a team run by my friend within a company she works for (a Polish subsidiary of a multinational FMCG distributor). The group of 110 was preparing gift packages for 7 families from Płońsk region. A sizeable venture, with 3 core co-ordinators, and several line co-ordinators, including me, responsible for collecting sorted stuff for one of families and packaging). The very process of collecting the package from a heap of stuff accumulated for 7 families is an exercise in logistics. It took four hours of physical work yesterday, but all in all has eventually come out smoothly.

Today my friend, her husband, their friend and his daughter and I oversaw packing gift boxes to a lorry and we drove to Płońsk. Out of 7 families 4 had agreed to meet representatives of the donors, therein I visited 2: a lonely middle-aged man, who has slid into poverty after his wife’s death out of passiveness and a marriage bringing up five children. The very experience is still to fresh to put it in words; my musings on the way back to Warsaw was that the poverty does not creak / shriek as the Polish saying bieda aż piszczy goes. It either screams or stays silent. I have resolved to support Szlachetna Paczka with my money and time. Very few people who take it up later give it up and I will not be in the minority.