Read 7 stories of the people who found the way to normal life in our homes last year. When reading them, one can find the meaning of our work.

On Saturday, June 14, in fine weather, groups from our Society gathered in the Ecce Homo Sanctuary in Krakow on our annual pilgrimage. 1050 people from 35 circles including 505 inhabitants of the shelters have come to the pilgrimage. There were also 8 guests from TIS in Lesna.
At the beginning the community was initiated and the groups were introduced. The Eucharist, led by Most Reverend Father Bernard Sawicki, Abbot of Tyniec, concelebrated by 14 priests, was the most important moment of the Mass. At the end we have been sharing communion and breaking bread brought by each branch of the Society.

On Saturday, May 24, 2008, a group of 22 pilgrims took the St. Brother Albert’s Green Trail to visit the Blessed Sister Bernardina’s birth place.

On Saturday, May 10, Polish Streetsoccer Championship of Circles Promoting Sobriety and Groups Preventing Homelessness took place in the Market Square in Wroclaw. 12 groups from different regions of Poland took part in the tournament.

On Tuesday, 6 May, His Eminence Bishop Gerard Bernacki consecrated the new outlet of the Rybnik Circle of our Society – St. Brother Albert’s House for women and single mothers in Leszczyny near Rybnik. The house has operated for a few months. The building was given by the district authorities and renovated by the Circle members. It has 7 rooms where 6 women and 9 children live now. The consecration celebrations coincided with presence in the “wandering rosary.” At present, the Society runs 9 houses for women and single mothers.

On 2 April 2008 the newest circle of our Society in Koszalin, by winning a competition,  has started to run a municipal hostel for the homeless at ul. Mieszka Pierwszego 6. There are 52 places for men and 24 places for women in the second wing of the building. The building handover was connected with its blessing by Father Tadeusz Dzwonkowski OFM Conv.

On Sunday, 30 March 2008, in the Rzeszow Art Gallery, the 10th auction “Blizniemu swemu…” (“To one’s neighbor”) took place.
269 works donated by famous Polish visual artists were exhibited (paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures). A five-hour event was professionally led by Marek Pietkiewicz. 120 people participated in the auction. Almost all works were sold. A picture by Franciszek Masluszczak achieved the highest price. 240 works in total were sold for a joint amount of 508,6 thousand zloty. 
The auction was preceded by exhibitions in Warsaw, Wroclaw, Katowice, Cracow and Rzeszow.
Main contributors to the success of this undertaking are artists who donated their works to help the poor and homeless. The auction is also a result of a two-year work of the “Blizniemu swemu…” Foundation’s team for the St. Brother Albert’s Aid Society in Rzeszow, chaired by Emil Jurkiewicz. There would not be such auction without the growing number of buyers and sponsors. We cordially thank all of them.
On the Foundation’s website, you may still take part in an auction of Magdalena Abakanowicz’s sculpture and Ewa Minge’s dress.

Next Sunday, 30 March 2008 in Rzeszow, the 10th auction “To one’s neighbor” (“Blizniemu swemu”) will take place. Over 250 works donated for an auction (paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures) can be seen in the Rzeszow Art Gallery and on the website of the organizer – “Blizniemu swemu” Foundation. All reproductions can also be found in a catalogue. The auction starts at 11 a.m. It is already famous in Poland – it attracts the most eminent Polish visual artists. We invite you to participate in the event. Money from the sale of works will be allotted for helping the poor and homeless, charges of our Society.

Today we present Magda’s story, the last story of the participants of the „Back on Track” project. Although the project is coming to its end, almost all PABs (Professional Insertion Centres for the Unemployed) will continue their activity. We hope that the new ones will be created, too. To promote this form of support, a useful textbook will soon be issued. For more information about the project, see www.wnp.org.pl

Day, a new day, emptiness… I have realized that I am alone. Various thoughts are swirling through my mind, hopelessness and question: “What’s next?” After all I have no job, nothing to live on, and the man I loved, has left me. I am looking for help, I can’t just sit and do nothing. I meet people like me and Mirek, among them. We talk to each other for a long while and he suggests that I should go to the PAB. I hesitate, because I think that everything is senseless. Full of anxiety, I open the door and I hear Malgosia’s warm voice: Come in, please. Can I help you? A long conversation is a relief to me, I realize I am not alone. There is somebody who wants to help me, listen to me and give me a helping hand.

As announced, today the story of the next participant of the “Back on Track” project.

I am the Beneficiary of the “Back on Track” project, implemented by the […] Circle of the St. Brother Albert’s Aid Society. I landed here by chance, thanks to my friend - I wanted to know how the PAB (Professional Insertion Centre for the Unemployed) works. Before I joined the project, I was drained, I didn’t know what to do with myself because I was homeless, unemployed and had health problems.