The engagement of business in charitable activity grows year by year. Except for financial support, it is also an active participation in various initiatives. More than 13.6 thousand runners took part in the last year's edition of Poland Business Run, and this time the organizers expect even 17 thousand people to participate in the run.
Poland Business Run is a charitable business run, which is to be held on 4th September in seven Polish cities. We expect ca. 17 thousand runners to participate in the event. The goal of the run is to help amputees, who lost their limbs because of fortuitous events, diseases or accidents – says Vice President of the Warsaw office of Goldman Sachs, which is both sponsor and organizer of the initiative, Andrzej Wydrychiewicz, during the talk with the news organization Newseria.
The run is to be held in seven Polish cities: Krakow, Warsaw, Poznań, Katowice, Łódź, Wrocław, and – for the first time – in Gdańsk. Companies select teams of five people to the relay. For instance, runners in the Warsaw edition have a distance of 21 km, that is 4.2 km per person.
According to organizers, the initiative Poland Business Run brings profits to all parties. Most of all, it allows to finance the purchase of modern prostheses, rehabilitation exercises or help of psychologists for amputees. Benefits from such event are also provided to runners. Running promotes a healthy lifestyle. Thus, we encourage people who spend most of their time at the desk every day to take up physical activity. Additionally, the form of relay builds the team spirit and enhances the engagement of people. The business character of the run is to provide sport competition among enterprises which compete with each other on the open market every day – says Andrzej Wydrychiewicz to Newseria.
This year’s edition is the fifth in a row. Last year's organizers of the run collected over 1 million zlotys in the whole Poland. In 2014, this amount totaled more than 750 thousand zlotys, which enabled the purchase of 24 prostheses. Additionally, the entrance fees allowed to collect nearly 894 thousand zlotys till 30th August this year.
In the current functioning conditions of the non-governmental sector, we can help only with the support of business. Such cooperation of business and charitable organizations gives reciprocal benefits – we learn from each other and achieve much more than operating single-handedly. We also learn how to go beyond our own limits, which is extremely important in order to help the other human effectively – says Patrycja Plewka, Director of the AMP Active Foundation, which supports amputees.
Poland Business Run Foundation is the patron of Poland Business Run within Jasiek Mela's Foundation "Poza Horyzonty" ("Beyond Horizons"). Thanks to the previous six editions, we managed to help more than 60 people.