Great Final News
The Great Finale

The Great Finale is the basis for all the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity's projects. Sponsored by big companies it is a huge, 'multi-layers' action and the source of funds -eventually spent by the Foundation on medical equipment for Public Hospitals in Poland.

The Finale is one day long, nation-wide money gathering on the first Sunday of the year. Volunteers previously registered in the Foundation collect money on the streets of their hometowns as well as they organize all kind of creative rallies; parties, concerts, auctions, shows, you name it!

The society contributes concern, and the artists free performances. All the revenues are turned over to The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity. Such attitude allows us to achieve one of the most important goals which is creating the spirit of community, friendship, and unity.

All day long-live-television broadcast (recently also internet broadcast at www.wosp.org.pl) are integral elements of the Great Finale.

Thanks to active participation of the media hundreds of thousand of people get involved in The Great Finale, which makes our action one of the most powerful and effective charities in the world.

THE FINALE
THE PROJECT
COLLECTED SUM
1st Finale 1993-01-03
cardio-surgery
1 535 440,68 USD
2nd Finale 1994-01-02
neonatology
1 930 726,93 USD
3rd Finale 1995-01-08
pediatric oncology
2 816 465,36 USD
4th Finale 1996-01-07
rescue of accidents' victims
2 543 413,59 USD
5th Finale 1997-01-05
cardio-surgery
3 062 067,29 USD
6th Finale 1998-01-04
rescue of accidents' victims
3 543 276,74 USD
7th Finale 1999-01-10
neonatology
4 515 020,82 USD
8th Finale 2000-01-09
Kidneys' diseases
6 089 390,91 USD
9th Finale 2001-01-07
newborns and children under 5 years old
6 112 642,74 USD
10th Finale 2002-01-13
congenital defects
6 848 998,85 USD
11th Finale 2003-01-12
newborns and children under 5 years old
7 695 614,16 USD
12th Finale 2004-01-11
newborns and children under 5 years old
6 923 443,22 USD
13th Finale 2005-01-09
Progressive methods of diagnostics and treatment in neonatology and pediatrics
9 864 292,87 USD

14th Finale 2006-01-08 

 For Saving Lives of Children Injured in Accidents and for Teaching CPR
and First Aid

9 660 691,63 USA 

 
all together:
73 141 445,79  USD

We are proud of our volunteers. They are honest, reliable, and fully dedicated to our ideas. We appreciate their great spirit and we thank them for their help and hope that they've been giving us for over a decade.

This year, on January 14, we will be holding a jubilee XV Final, which is absolutely unearthly!  When all these years backwards we started this charity and run first Final, we didn’t even dare dreaming of doing it so many times.

Back in 1993, in much worst conditions than now, we collected staggering sum of 2 mln bucks!  And despite calling this fund-drive the Great Final it turned to be just the beginning of a great adventure called the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity. 

Then the time went by and we did next 14 Finals, and worked very hard to prove that we are trustworthy and reliable organization. Today, we’re proud to say that our efforts resulted in providing all Polish children with easy access to sophisticated medical devices in hospitals across the country. 

Looking from the perspective of 14 years, this period was the time of the improvement of the quality of health services for children with special health care needs in . Today, pediatric healthcare is comparable to this available in other European countries, and sometimes even better.

This was possible with the input of 65 million USD, which GOCC spent on medical equipment. We’re very happy that as NGO we could support the government in such effective way. It is absolutely stunning and just unearthly!  That’s why we feel that the jubilee XV Final is out of space!

 On January 14, 2007 we will be gathering money for saving lives of children injured in accidents and CPR Education. There’s so much to do in this field that we decided to choose the same goal, which we ‘played’ for last year.

Another reason why we chose it is the fact that the results of our last year’s work are very beneficial and well received by the public opinion. The program ‘CPR for Schools’ which we launched in April became a smashing success and set an example of how to plan for this type of initiatives on national scale.

We certainly want to sustain everything what we’ve achieved last year and we’re already full of new ideas on how to improve our so far projects. 

One of the most stimulating facts of the year 2007, is the first Final organized in Kiev, . It was a fund drive of the ‘Heart to Heart’ Foundation, which was started by two Ukrainian students, who last year volunteered for our charity and literally fell in love with what we do. We couldn’t be happier! Seeing that our 15 years experiences resulted in benefiting people in other country we are …charged to do even more and work more intensively here in .

On January 14, 2007 the GOCC is all around the World. Polish communities living abroad have been organizing events celebrating Finals for many years. Wherever there’s Polish spirit, there’s also the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity!