Tai Chi classes for people with neurological diseases, ecological education, crochet workshops for children, submitted by a 7th grade student, and puppet-making classes have been awarded funding under the Oliwa Neighborhood Budget 2023.

The Oliwa Neighbourhood Budget has become a permanent fixture in the schedule of social initiatives in one of the oldest districts of Gdańsk. At the same time, it is the only permanent project in Pomerania to support local communities by the private sector in the form of a neighbourhood budget. The fourth edition of the OBS has just been resolved, in which applications were submitted by a total of 11 institutions and individuals.

This year, the jury, consisting of Andrzej Stelmasiewicz – Gdańsk councillor, Małgorzata Skwira – headmaster of Primary School No. 35 in Oliwa, Tomasz Strug – chairman of the Oliwa District Council and Grzegorz Kidybiński – member of the board of Olivia Centre, selected 4 projects that received funding for their implementation.

The biggest stir was caused by the project of crochet workshops , submitted by Alicja from Oliwa , a student of the 7th grade of Primary School No. 23. Interestingly, this is not the first project submitted by such a young person. Alicja also ran in the Gdańsk Civic Budget; She submitted the preparation of an ecological mural. The girl shows entrepreneurship on a daily basis, successfully selling her own crochet products.

I really like crochet and I have been making hats, socks and mascots with this method for about a year – says Alicja Jankowska, a 7th grade student at Primary School No. 23 in Oliwa. – It’s an incredible satisfaction for me to see the joy that my work brings to the people I prepare it for. Crocheting allows me to spend time creatively, relaxes, develops manual skills and gives me a lot of joy, so I want to share my passion with others.

Other beneficiaries included the Association for People with Parkinson’s Disease and Degenerative Brain Diseases ParkOn, which prepared a series of Tai Chi classes for people with disabilities. As Aleksandra Węgorzewska emphasized, the aim of the project is to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities and people with motor coordination problems. The classes (as many as 2o 60-minute classes) are to be conducted in Oliwa, but also broadcast online. The project will be implemented for 8 months.

Ecological workshops in Oliwa and Przymorze Mały will be prepared by the
RC Foundation
. As Patrycja Surowiec, the project coordinator, declares, there are still too few “grassroot” actions to reduce the amount of waste and awareness of our choices at the consumer level. Some of our daily choices are also about the decisions our children make. The gadgets we buy are packaged in multiple layers of plastic, drinks are sold in cans and plastic bottles, and attractive but shoddy toys break or get boring after a few uses. In our series of workshops, we want to give children and young people a sense of agency by educating them about both the globally understood environment and their immediate surroundings. In our project, small steps for the environment form a logical whole, thanks to which we feel the sense of pro-ecological behavior. This is extremely important not only for the implementation of this knowledge and the durability of habits, but also for the sense of influence on reality and the value of acting in a group. The project will be implemented for 4 months and will include 10 workshops, and will be attended by children and young people from local schools.

The fourth project to receive funding is a puppet-making workshop, submitted by Małgorzata Martusewicz, a resident of Oliwa. During a series of workshops, lasting until May 2024, participants in groups: child – parent, children in groups of 15 people, as well as children working in pairs will learn the art of puppet making, and the entire project will end with a mini-theatre performance. The workshops will allow for the implementation of a number of functions: intergenerational connection, integration of children under the care of the Home for Children. Janusz Korczak – care and educational facility in Oliwa and children aged 8-12 who will work in pairs.

This year, we have extended the possibility of implementing projects also to Przymorze Małe, a district of Gdańsk adjacent to Oliwa. The daily life and creativity of our applicants knows no administrative boundaries. We are glad that Olivia can have a positive impact on her immediate surroundings and we encourage other companies to join the project – says Bogusław Wieczorek, Plenipotentiary of the Management Board of Olivia Centre.

The Oliwa Neighbourhood Budget is an initiative to support projects that are important to the residents of the district. Since 2019, residents, educational institutions and public benefit organizations have been submitting their initiatives to develop Oliwa, the district where the Olivia Centre is located. The budget was established on the initiative of the largest business centre in Poland, but its budget also includes Andrzej Stelmasiewicz , a Gdańsk councillor and local cultural animator. Previous editions of the neighbourhood budget have made it possible to co-finance projects with a total value of over PLN 65 thousand.

Fig. Karol Kacperski, Prestige Magazine