Latest news on our local club’s contribution to Rotary Warsaw Cluster Fund - "HELP FOR UKRAINE”
6/4/22
From: piotr.kaczorowski rotary.org.pl <piotr.kaczorowski@rotary.org.pl>
Subject: Report #2 - Rotary Warsaw Cluster Fund - "HELP FOR UKRAINE"
To: piotr.kaczorowski@rotary.org.pl <piotr.kaczorowski@rotary.org.pl>
 
Dear Rotary Friends and Donors!
 
Once again thank you for your generous contribution. You support our joint Rotary work.
 
It's been 3 weeks since the last report. We promised to report every week and we intend to do so from the beginning of April.
The last weeks were full of challenges and required adaptation, not only for refugees from Ukraine, but for us - Rotarians. For example, managing and spending larger amounts of aid obtained from donors to achieve aid goals also required us to do homework and internal education and discipline.
 
 
 
  
 
 
LAST 3 WEEKS OF ROTARIAN WORK
 
Significant sections of the completed projects:
 
- equity projects, funded by funding from Rotarians, Rotary Clubs and friends
- non-equity projects:
- launch of a logistics center and a donation hub
- help for searching for the job
- donations from Clubs and Districts
- Zabka (ang. Frog) grocery network
- internal projects
- adapting the structure to the implementation of aid projects, including establishing the management and spending of funds provided by donors
- visit of Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta and his wife in Warsaw - 20-21 March
- preparing upcoming projects
 
 
1. Equity projects
 
We have a small ticket for one project in the amount of 2000 PLN (ca 430 EUR). We try to spend this money on projects that will cover two scopes: a) number of people (10-50) b) time (1-2 weeks).
 
Project #1
- status: COMPLETED
- beneficiary: Religious House of the Sisters of Mary
- amount: 2000 PLN (429 EUR)
- date: 14.03.2022
- description: 17 people (2 families with one disabled child: 3 adults, 14 children); needs: food, cosmetics and cleaning products, shoes, prepaid card for mobile phone)
 
Project #2
- status: COMPLETED
- beneficiary: "CKS" - law representative of "Klub Sosnowy" (The Pine Club)
- amount: 2160 PLN (ca 462 EUR)
- date: 16.03.2022
- description: a) accommodation for 2 weeks for 4 person family that waits for UK visa and transport to UK + b) refinancing (600 PLN) of purchasing medications
 
Project #3
- status: IN PROGRESS
- beneficiary: unit for the homeless (St. Brother Albert's Aid Society) converted by the city of Warsaw into a refugee center
- amount: 2000 PLN (429 EUR)
- description: basic needs ; some basic needs are bought but the project ticked was not fully spent
 
 
2. Non-Equity projects
 
Project #4
- status: COMPLETED
- subject: setup of Cluster "Warsaw" logistic hub for aid / donations sent by trucks from other Districts 
- date: 17.03.2022
- description: Rafał Misztalski - member of the board of Rotary Club of Warsaw is owner of logistic center with truck ramp. He has given away some of his logistics center to store gifts from Rotarians around the world.
 
Project #5
- status: COMPLETED
- beneficiary: two excellent surgeons from Ukraine
- date: 11.03.2022
- description: we had here in Warsaw, two surgeons that was looking for a job.  One was recommended to the Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology in Warsaw and the second was recommended to National Institute of Cardiology of Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński in Anin (Warsaw City Area)
 
Project #6
- status: IN PROGRESS
- beneficiary: various refugees camps in Warsaw
- description: We received gifts from Sweden and France. We store them in the open hub of the Warsaw cluster. We are in the process of dispatching these gifts to various refugee centers in Warsaw, including stations, reception points, private homes hosting refugees
 
Project #7
- status: COMPLETED
- beneficiary: 30 refugees from Ukraine
- description: bus transport to Sweden
- amount: private donation of member of the Rotary Club of Warsaw
 
Project #8
- status: IN PROGRESS
- beneficiary: The Pine Club as Rotary Refugee Center in Warsaw
- date: 29.03.2022
- description: start of cooperation with Żabka (ang. Frog) grocery network - free food every day that have short date of consumption (ca 2 days) that can be used in restaurants / kitchen in refugee camp / center
 
Project #7
- status: COMPLETED
- beneficiary: District 2232 - Lviv in Ukraine
- description: transport of medications to Ukraine from Rotary Club's Cluster "Warsaw" 
 
3. Internal projects
 
We spent hours of talk in the club, with members of inter-club committee and the DGE about the concept how to spent money that we gathering from you dear donors.  
 
Several rules set:
- we continue work as financial operator / fund  (know-how transferred from alternative investment funds to charity funds-like structure that is Rotary Clubs' Cluster "Warsaw")
- still we have inter-club committee 
- we did projection of spending money based on amount of cash similar to volume of Disaster Response Fund (50k USD for a Rotary Districts close to Ukraine):
- above we have 3 tickets categories: small (2k PLN = ca 428 EUR), medium (10k PLN = ca 2140 EUR) and big (20k PLN = ca 4277 EUR)
- we do not have funds such as Disaster Response Fund yet, but the dynamics of obtaining them is starting to be similar to that of the DRF. We would like to spend them similarly
- the above projection shows the spending of funds for 12 weeks in the amount of 50k USD (45k EUR)
- at the same time, funds are spent in accordance with the adopted Aid Strategy
- there are ideas for larger projects (more capital intensive), especially for children on vacation, but we assume that we can obtain much more funds for one-off campaigns from the Disaster Response Fund
 
4. The extraordinary visit of Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta and his wife in Warsaw - 20-21 March
 
On March 15, 2022, we received an inquiry from Rotary International Headquarters, sent by officers from the Great Britan & Irland District, regarding the possibility of hosting an extraordinary visit by Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta and his wife on March 20-21 in Warsaw.
 
The visit was confirmed on March 17, 2022. Rotary Club of Warsaw, the oldest Rotary club in Poland (est. 1931) of course agreed and made every effort to organize the visit as best as possible despite the very short time.
 
The Rotary Club of Warsaw also invited officers representing District 2231 Authorities. The invitation was accepted by DGE Piotr Jankowski and PDG Małgorzata Wojtas.
 
The purpose of the President's RI visit was to: get acquainted with the situation on the spot in Poland, strengthen Rotarians' activities, open up new funding opportunities, give credibility to the Rotary International organization in Poland among the government authorities and local government.
 
Throughout Thursday, March 17, RI officers searched for an air connection for the President to be in Warsaw. He managed to reach Amsterdam from Venice and landed in Warsaw at 23:25, on Sunday, March 20. 
 
Here photos from very late hours when we were waiting for RI President arrival. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We arrived at midnight at the Raffles Europejski Warsaw Hotel, which has been the seat of the Rotary Club of Warsaw since 17 Feb 1931.
 
Coming back to the visit ...
 
We had a meeting in the hotel lobby until 2:30 am. The meeting was attended by: RI President Shekhar Mehta, DGE Piotr Jankowski, PDG Małgorzata Wojtas and myself, as the president of the host club - Rotary Club of Warsaw.
 
During the long night meeting, the RI President received full information from district officers about the situation, shared with us his experience in crisis management, implementation of relief programs during humanitarian disasters, and shared experience in mobilizing larger financing. I must personally admit that the President has extensive experience in this field and his assessment of the situation and help is irreplaceable.
 
The very emotional issue of calling the situation in Ukraine by name, that it is a war, not a humanitarian crisis, was raised in front of the cameras.
 
The Ukrainian ambassador pointed out that in Ukraine we are dealing with a war caused by Russia and by President Putin, and that everyone must understand. The fact is that Rotary International (as well as other aid and humanitarian organizations) referred mainly to their own space of perception of the conflict, which is helping victims of armed conflicts and other disasters.
 
As part of our own informal interview, we received information that every Ukrainian ambassador in each country tries to highlight this problem very clearly in front of the cameras, so that it is heard about it. Each ambassador is a soldier of his country in the midst of the war. In a situation where countries do not send weapons, the idea is to win over as many key people and societies as possible.
 
After the press conference, we went to visit the refugee centers. Some moments were very moving and there were many tears. In fact, the President looked more like a father than the head of an international organization.
 
 
Our DGE Piotr Jankowski played an important role during the meeting. Various aspects were discussed, from fundraising for clubs and the District to the implementation of aid projects for Ukrainian citizens in Poland and Ukraine. The problem of calling the crisis a war was also raised. This little word is very important and is of great importance in showing what is really happening and counteracting the information war waged by Russia.
 
 
A few days after the meeting, Rotary International and other organizations such as the UN changed the narrative. It is hard to say whether our meeting was the key one, but we hope that we helped.
 
Rotary Club of Warsaw, at the meeting of RI President with Ambassador Ukraine to Poland
 
Finally, I would like to remind:
 
Rotary International President-elect Shekhar Mehta's theme for 2021-2022 is Serve to Change Lives. Shekhar urges members to become more involved in service projects, saying that caring for and serving others is the best way to live because it changes not only other people's lives, but also our own.
It was a great honor to host the President of RI and his wife in Warsaw.
 
Many thanks to the many RI officers who helped us organize this visit.
 
 
We would also like to thank DGE Piotr Jankowski and PDG Małgorzata Wojtas for their support.
 
 
 
 
5. upcoming Rotary Projects
 
We plan to launch the following two Rotary projects regarding the indirectly present situation in Warsaw and ongoing works:
 
 
We plan to launch an English-language portal presenting Rotary in Poland. At the beginning, the website will be particularly focused on describing the work of the "Warszawa" cluster, as well as selected clubs in Poland. It will also report on selected, significant events in District 2231.
 
 
2. New 7th Rotaract Club in Warsaw.
 
We do not have a name for the club yet, but we are planning to include 20-30 year olds from Ukraine who have already started learning Polish or have it planned and may become involved in the HELP FOR UKRAINE program. The aim of the project is 1) creating a new Rotaract, whose members will be able to join Rotary in the future, 2) educating leaders, 3) new hands that can help us all in the HELP FOR UKRAINE program.
 
 
 
Launching the rotarywarsaw.org website. We have so much work to do that we haven't been able to get our own site up and running yet. However, we plan to do it when launching the rotarypoland.org portal. At the moment, we are very active on Facebook and Twitter, where you can find reports from our actions.
 
 
 
4. other payments methods
 
We are going to launch other payments methods for donors like credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay.
 
 
ABOUT THE  ROTARY CLUB'S CLUSTER "WARSAW"
 
We cooperate in the Rotary Clubs Cluster "Warsaw" consists of 10 stationary clubs + 1 online + 1 from outside of Warsaw = 12 clubs = 226 Rotarians.
 
The inter-club committee of Cluser "Warsaw" includes:
- Piotr Kaczorowski - Rotary Club Warszawa - President,
- Aneta Mioduszewska -Freundlich - Rotary E-Club Poland - President,
- Andrzej Ludek - Rotary Club Warszawa City - Past Governor of District 2230 (Poland - Belarus - Ukraine),
- Piotr Jankowski - Rotary Club Koszalin - Governor Elect of District 2231 - District representative.
 
 
HELP FOR UKRAINE - Aid Strategy:
 
Chapter 1:
- transport
- food
- accomodation
- formatilities
- basic needs
Chapter 2:
- find a job
- children education
- new env. adaptation
 
Region of operation:  Warsaw City Area and its surroundings
 
We do not send money to:
- other NGOs
- social fundraising platforms
 
 
Current methods of Contribution 
 
PayPal:
 
 
Also in very traditional way:
 
Address of Rotary Club of Warsaw (aka RC WARSZAWA):
Warszawski Klub Rotariański
ul. Mokotowska 48
00-543 Warszawa
 
Preferable new account:
IBAN: PL38114020040000330282278650
BIC: BREXPLPWMBK
BANK: mBank SA
 
Old account:
IBAN: PL63124059501111001040054378
BIC: PKOPPLPWXXX
Bank: Bank Polska Kasa Opieki Spółka Akcyjna
 
Validation:
 
 
Few words about me 
 
Piotr Kaczorowski has a history of connecting the first Polish high school to the Internet in 1993, running the first gaming portal in Poland with over 1.3M unique users in 2000, and developing the first Polish mobile and web instant messenger Gadu-Gadu in 2003 (15 mln users). During 2004-2007 he held the position of CTO at Gadu-Gadu SA, leading the company to the IPO at Warsaw Stock Exchange where it was sold for 155M USD to Naspers. Proven IT manager specialized mainly in the role of CTO with a business background. Piotr holds a MSc from the Warsaw University of Technology in the area of Computer Science and BA in Control and Computation Engineering. He also studied Marketing and Management at Polish Open University – an educational institution fully accredited and validated by Oxford Brookes University. From 2018, Piotr is the owner and managing partner of Accolade Ventures, which is an Alternative Investment Fund Manager in accordance with the EU directive, with the possibility of managing assets up to EUR 90M.  In 2020, elected as the President of the Rotary Club of Warsaw. His term ends in June 2023.  
 
 
 
Donations:  HELP FOR UKRAINE -> https://paypal.me/rotarywarsaw 
 
 
Kind regards / Yours In Rotary,
 
Piotr D. Kaczorowski
 
President
Rotary Club of Warsaw, est. 1931
noname