Who are we?

Fundacja Mam Marzenie was established on June 14 2003 in Krakow by Piotr Piwowarczyk - a Polish emigrant who volunteered for many years at New Jersey chapter of Make A Wish Foundation.

We are a first nationwide organization granting wishes to Polish children living with life threatening conditions. Inspired by the story of Chris Grecius - the Arizona boy who's wish to become a state trooper started the wish granting movement in the US - our foundation wants to bring in the life of the sick children and their families a ray of hope and joy in the tragic times of the ilness of a child.

Fundacja Mam Marzenie became a reality thanks to hundreds of people in Poland and the USA who embraced our mission of granting wishes to children living with life-threatening conditions. The founding Comittee of Fundacja Mam Marzenie has been established, comprising of distinguished members of the Polish Community. In Poland prominent doctors, scientists and artists became a part of our organization.

We want to bring together all compassionate volunteers in Poland and the US and through their ranks to strenghten the spirit of voluntarism and solidarity of Polish people as one community working together for the good of Polish sick children.

The welfare of the child is the the Foundation's core value and the basis of all of its activities. In fulfilling a wish, it cooperates with doctors and family members and make them a part of the wish experience. In April of 2004 we conducted a survey among Polish kids suffering from life threatening conditions. The answers about their wish fell into one of the 4 categories:

• I want to be (...a doctor, ballerina, a fireman...)
• I want to have (...a computer, a bicycle, a book...)
• I want to meet (...a Pope, a soccer player, a rock star...)
• I want to go (...to Disneyland, Paris, Warsaw...)

In December of 2003 our first wish recipient 14 year old Bogusia came with her family to the US to fulfill her life long dream to visit Disneyland.

See short movies from Florida:
- Mickey Mouse (10sec)
- Safari (5 sec)
- Swimming Pool (10 sec)

See pictures from Bogusia's trip:
- Meeting in Newark and Avenel (with volunteers)
- New York trip
- Disneyland

Bogusia - an avid poetry reader and distinguished poet herself suffers from gentetic frigile bone disorder (osteogenesis imperfecta) but despite her condition remains a lively teenager.

By making her wish come true the volunteers of our foundation in the US created an informal group of supporters who want to continue to work for the benefit of other terminally sick Polish children. If you are interested in joinign our group please e-mail us for more information

Starting February 2004 the Foundation through the cooperation with University Children Hospital and St Lazar Hospice in Krakow started to grant wishes of children living in the Malopolska region.

Among them there were:

Rafał - 15-year old soccer player, diagnosed with cancer, who's wish was to get a special blessing from the Holy Father. In June his dream came true and Rafał along with his family made a trip to Rome to see the famous European capital and to Vatican to meet with the most famous Pole and his personal hero.
(see the pictures from the trip to Vatican)

Joasia - 16-year old girl, suffering from the brain cancer, wished to get a computer. She wanted to use it at home to keep in touch with her friends and family members via the internet. Her dream came true in June and we are certain that Joasia has met many friends on the web since then.
(see the pictures from this wish's visit)

Kasia - 13-year old girl in the terminal stage of the brain cancer. She wanted to see her beloved animals - horses - for the last time. Since she was unable to make a trip to the stables, we arranged to bring the horses to her house, where she could feed them some carrots and feel their silky hair (she lost her sight a few weeks before).
Kasia passed away the following day, but in memory of her wish the two horses that paid her that last visit carried her small coffin to the place of a final rest.
(see pictures from the wish)

In April a new branch of our foundation was formed in Poznań and the children from Wielkopolska region joined the growing family of our wish kids. The first wishes from there were:

Lukasz - 11-year old animal lover, suffering from progressing muscular distrophy, wanted to see exotic annimals. The foundation took him for a weekend trip to Wroclaw Zoo - the most famous and and largest zoo in Poland. Lukasz had an opportunity not only to see and feed the animals but also to explore "behind the walls" reality of the zoo life. He declaired that tending to the animals is the best job in the world and offered his services when he grows up.
(see pictures from the wish)

Wojtus - this 7-year old cancer victim, when asked about his wish without hesitation pointed out to the computer, that was standing in his hospital room. The new computer he received was put to work right away, when Wojtus opened the PC game with his favorite character - Bob the Builder.
(see pictures from the wish)

Since its inception in June of 2003 Fundacja Mam Marzenie established local branches in 9 major Polish cities where pediatric oncology centers and hospices for children are located. Through the slate of over 400 volunteers who dedicate their time and talents to the welfare of the sick children by the end of 2004 more then 250 children had a chance to expierience the power of the wish granting and forget for a brief moment about their tragic fate.

It turns out that in Poland the most popular wish is a request to recive a laptop computer ( 46% of our wishes are computer wishes). To many of us it may seem like a very trivial wish but to kids who spend many months alone in the hospitals , cut off from their friends and family members the opportunity to re-connect with them via the internet is like opening a virtual window to the world.