A jo­int Gala, which was held for the se­cond time, com­bi­ned two events im­por­tant for Zamość third sec­tor: the an­nu­al De­cem­ber In­ter­na­tio­nal Vo­lun­te­er Day and the fi­nal of the eighth edi­tion of the “Non­go­vern­men­tal In­i­tia­ti­ve of the Year” com­pe­ti­tion. The Gala was con­duc­ted by Ewa Szcze­pańska and Kry­sty­na Rybińska-Smyk who tal­ked abo­ut the da­ily func­tio­ning of the Vo­lun­te­er Cen­tre in Zamość (VCZ) and abo­ut pro­jects re­ali­zed in 2016. They also awar­ded di­plo­mas and exten­ded thanks to vo­lun­te­ers, clubs and circ­les as­so­cia­ted with the Vo­lun­te­er Cen­tre in Zamość as well as tho­se who are in char­ge of them. The most ac­ti­ve vo­lun­te­ers also re­ce­ived di­plo­mas and pri­zes from the Pre­si­dent of Zamość. Du­ring the Gala, VCZ clubs and vo­lun­te­ers al­ways have the op­por­tu­ni­ty to pre­sent the­ir achie­ve­ments. The­re have al­re­ady been news-she­ets, films, pic­tu­re sto­ries and mul­ti­me­dia pre­sen­ta­tions. This year, a Mini Fair was or­ga­ni­zed, du­ring which 21 scho­ol clubs, 3 out-of-scho­ol ones and EVS vo­lun­te­ers put up the­ir stalls. The Gala was also at­ten­ded by se­niors from the Se­nior Com­mu­ni­ty Sta­tion run by the VCZ. The Gala for So­cial In­i­tia­ti­ves is an im­por­tant event, which is evi­den­ced by the gu­ests that at­ten­ded it: Woj­ciech Ma­twiej­czuk − the Head of the City Co­un­cil, Mag­da­le­na Dołgan − the Vice-Pre­si­dent of Zamość, Bar­ba­ra Zarębska, − the In­spec­tor of Sports and To­urism in the Sta­ro­sty, Krzy­stof Ru­szyn − the Di­rec­tor of the De­part­ment for So­cial Af­fa­irs and the Ma­na­ge­ment of Cri­sis, Małgo­rza­ta Żołyńska – the De­pu­ty Di­rec­tor of the City Fa­mi­ly Sup­port Cen­tre, Ma­rian Haw­ry­luk − the Di­rec­tor of the Po­viat Job Cen­tre, Jan Sadło −the Cha­ir­man of Jan Za­moy­ski Ho­using Co-ope­ra­ti­ve, scho­ol he­ad­te­achers, re­pre­sen­ta­ti­ves of NGOs and cul­tu­ral in­sti­tu­tions. Stu­dents from High Scho­ol No. 1 sang a song, the an­them of Zamość Vo­lun­te­ers, in ho­no­ur of the Gala.

The se­cond part of the Gala was do­mi­na­ted by the “ Non­go­vern­men­tal In­i­tia­ti­ve of the Year 2015” com­pe­ti­tion. The com­pe­ti­tion was ope­ned by Ka­mil Ka­ba­siński, the cha­ir­man of Zamość Fo­rum for So­cial In­i­tia­ti­ves who re­min­ded the at­ten­de­es abo­ut the idea of ri­val­ry. The ver­dict was read by Małgo­rza­ta Fa­rion, the co­or­di­na­tor of the com­pe­ti­tion. 8 in­i­tia­ti­ves en­te­red the com­pe­ti­tion. The first pri­ze was fun­ded by the Pre­si­dent of Zamość; the se­cond pri­ze was fun­ded by Zamość Sta­rost and the third one by Zamość Fo­rum for So­cial In­i­tia­ti­ves. This year vo­lun­te­ers from “Okrąglak” and Ser­gio and Al­ber­to, our EVS vo­lun­te­ers, were re­spon­si­ble for the lo­gi­stics of or­ga­ni­zing the Gala.

The me­dia abo­ut the Gala:

• Roztocze net
• TVP3 Lublin