Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Partners and Friends of Krzyżowa Foundation!
The coronavirus pandemic has brought with it a real threat to the existence of our Foundation. With the "freezing" of activities and the cancellation of almost all projects to be carried out in Krzyżowa in the first half of 2020, the Foundation was cut off a significant part of its incomes. We faced the perspective of dismissal of employees and even bankruptcy. To avoid the worst, we decided to take all possible measures: we reduced the salaries of the entire team, took advantage of the anti-crisis shield provided by the Polish government, reformulated some of the projects in order to implement them online, appealed to our partners and friends for help and asked for extraordinary support from the governments of Poland and Germany, whose political and financial support enabled the creation of the International Youth Meeting Centre 30 years ago.
In recent days, you could read on our website that we are slowly opening up to our guests and "defrosting" further sectors of our activities. We want to believe that we have survived the worst and look to the future with hope.
We appreciate the opportunity to use the anti-crisis shield established by the Polish government. We are very grateful to the German government for giving the "Krzyżowa" Foundation a special grant, without which it would be very difficult for us to survive this difficult period. We will not forget the help received from our partners, headed by the Polish-German Youth Exchange and the Świdnica Community Council. We think with gratitude about the individual donors whose donations reach us.
This is a difficult time for our employees. We are impressed by their willingness to make sacrifices, the enormous commitment and support they give to the Board and to each other. We also appreciate the commitment and support provided to us by the Foundation's social networking bodies, headed by the Supervisory Board. The attitude of both of them confirms that Krzyżowa is an extraordinary place, around which exceptional people gather.
The past weeks have shown the strength of the Krzyżowa. We can count on the support of governments, we have faithful partners and friends, and a fantastic team. To all of them, to all of you who contribute to the fact that we can look to the future today with more optimism than just a few weeks ago, we would like to thank you very much!
The pandemic and the economic crisis it has created will accompany us for a long time, obstructing our actions and making our financial situation worse. We must focus on a long, difficult struggle that will lead us to survive and to a good future for the Foundation. We will therefore appreciate your continued help and support.We believe that thanks to you we will be able to continue our work and will carry out the mission of Krzyżowa - even in the most difficult circumstances.
Dorota Krajdocha i Robert Żurek
Management Board of the Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe
