The Grand Finale
The Grand Finale takes place on the first or second Sunday of every new year. Sponsored by many Polish and worldwide companies, it is a one-day long, nationwide, money-raising event. Volunteers from all around Poland go out on the street and collect money in special cans which are labeled with a red heart and text: "Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy" (Polish for The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity). They also have identification cards, thanks to which anyone can report suspicious-looking people collecting money to the police without any such proof of authorization. Everyone who gives the volunteers any amount of money, gets a red heart sticker in return.
During this one day, huge parties are thrown around the country (and at other places where Polish people live). These are organized by volunteers, except for the biggest event which takes place at the Pałac Kultury i Nauki (Palace of Culture and Science) in Warsaw, and is managed by the GOCC itself. At 8 p.m. firework show is set in every city as so called 'light to heaven'.
Throughout seventeen Grand Finales, the Foundation collected over $100 million for cardio-surgery, neonatology, pediatric oncology, kidney diseases, congenital defects, newborns and children under 5 years of age.
| Finale | Date | Project objectives | Raised funds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in USD) | (in 2012 USD) | |||
| I | January 3, 1993 | Children's cardio-surgery | 1,535,440.68 | 2,470,287.42 |
| II | January 2, 1994 | Neonatology | 1,930,726.93 | 3,027,435.31 |
| III | January 8, 1995 | Pediatric oncology | 2,816,465.36 | 4,295,740.13 |
| IV | January 7, 1996 | Rescue of accident victims | 2,543,413.59 | 3,768,979.53 |
| V | January 5, 1997 | Children's cardio-surgery | 3,062,067.29 | 4,433,142.2 |
| VI | January 4, 1998 | Rescue of accident victims | 3,543,276.74 | 5,052,316.2 |
| VII | January 10, 1999 | Neonatology | 4,515,020.82 | 6,299,022.25 |
| VIII | January 9, 2000 | Children's kidney diseases | 6,089,390.91 | 8,218,030.17 |
| IX | January 7, 2001 | Newborns and children under 5 | 6,112,642.74 | 8,023,058.99 |
| X | January 13, 2002 | Congenital defects | 6,848,998.85 | 8,849,844.21 |
| XI | January 12, 2003 | Newborns and children under 5 | 7,695,614.16 | 9,722,534.24 |
| XII | January 11, 2004 | Newborns and children under 5 | 6,923,443.22 | 8,518,908.99 |
| XIII | January 9, 2005 | Progressive methods of diagnostics and treatment in neonatology and pediatrics | 9,864,292.87 | 11,738,323.63 |
| XIV | January 8, 2006 | Saving lives of children injured in accidents / teaching CPR and first aid | 9,660,691.63 | 11,137,383.68 |
| XV | January 14, 2007 | Saving lives of children injured in accidents / CPR education | 10,276,156.07 | 11,518,002.57 |
| XVI | January 13, 2008 | Children with otolaryngological conditions | 13,883,627.13 | 14,986,592.25 |
| XVII | January 11, 2009 | Prevention and early diagnosis of cancer in children | 13,404,441.27 | 14,520,958.25 |
| XVIII | January 10, 2010 | Prevention and early diagnosis of cancer in children | 14,413,466.03 | 15,361,459.9 |
| n/a | July 4, 2010 | Special Finale: "Prevent Flooding!" | 805,662.73 | 858,652.3 |
| XIX | January 9, 2011 | Urological and nephrological diseases | 16,499,157.81 | 17,045,875.47 |
| XX | January 8, 2012 | The purchase of life-saving equipment for premature and insulin pumps | in progress | in progress |
| TOTAL: | 139,224,941.54 USD 169,846,547.69 in 2012 USD |
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Read more about this topic: Great Orchestra Of Christmas Charity
Famous quotes containing the words grand and/or finale:
“What is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men. That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)