Tadeusz Donocik, deputy president of the Polish Chamber of Commerce and president of the Regional Chamber of Commerce in Katowice:
“When granting the Honorary Pearl for social values, it was our intention to underscore the deep symbiosis between economy, culture, science, sense of patriotic values as well as commitment to giving one’s all. The PRO OMNIBUS Foundation for the Disabled in Ciechocinek and the Partita vocal group which have been both awarded with the Honorary Pearl, have amply shown that professional work – be it in cultural, scientific or company management field – can well blend with work for the good of other people. Indeed, many of the laureates speaking to-night highlighted the value of working for the good of others. During the past 18 years of the on-going transformation process in Poland we managed to avoid restoring 19th century capitalism. While building the market economy and the capital market we have never lost sight of man.”

Mirosław Satora,
President of the Foundation:
“During the Polish Market gala event we found ourselves in a fairy-tale like scenery; we felt very unusual. The Foundation is bent on giving, and such distinction has given us joy.
During the gala, a performance was given by our charge Ewa Lewandowska who won the Grand Prix during the “Ciechocinek Artistic Impressions” Song Festival of Young Disabled People organized by our Foundation. She was singing with bravado, most beautifully. Piotr Salaber’s accompaniment offered another proof that we focus on quality. That was a marvellous duet. Importantly, that performance has already brought fruit to Ewa. She appeared at a great event – the “Polish Market” gala – and the result was that she was noticed. She was invited to sing at the Integration Gala in the Warsaw Congress Hall in December and at promotion event in the Galeria Mokotów supermarket.
The annual Festival in Ciechocinek is the largest undertaking by the Pro Omnibus Foundation. I think that it a showpiece not only of our Foundation and Ciechocinek, but also of all Poland. At the invitation of Poland’s First Lady Maria Kaczyńska, twelve of our charges gave a concert of Christmas carols in the President’s Palace during her meeting last December with woman ambassadors and wives of ambassadors accredited in Poland. Our Foundation is seeing to it that our young charges have the opportunity to appear publicly – on the stage, on television – as frequently as possible. We are organizing another such concert under the patronage of the First Lady to be held this time in the Polish Radio’s Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio in Warsaw.
We shall also give a concert this December in the Child Health Centre. Our charges will perform one concert for the staff and another for the children. We are also planning a New Year concert in Ciechocinek. Something is happening all the time. Children under our care have no time “to rest away from us”. We are in continuous contact. We know everything about them. That has been accepted by the children and their minders. That benefits us too, because we feel needed.”