When the Clowns come marching in – Red Nose Day in Warsaw

21.07.2015

21.07.2015   C4C clowns join their Polish counterparts in raising awareness of the challenges hospital clowns face every day!

In a well received action in downtown Warsaw, Polish and Czech clowns of their respective Dr. Clown initiatives gave the public a rare glimpse into the everyday work and challenges of hospital clowns.

Everyone could experience ‘laughter therapy’ in action. Different stands representing clown work showed children how to do magic tricks, juggle, play different instruments, try their talents in dubbing famous animated movies, develop their creativity by playing with LEGO, or learn how to do face-painting or make balloon art.

“It’s fantastic to meet clowns from all over Poland and exchange experiences and introduce laughter therapy in action to the Polish public”, says Rafal Wojas, C4C cofounder and managing director of the C4C hospital clown initiative. “The residents of Warsaw seemed pleasantly surprised that a Dr. Clown program, headed by a Polish national, was active in the Czech Republic”, he added with a hint of coyness. Rafal is a Polish national…

Ever since forging a cooperation agreement between the two separate Polish and Czech Dr. Clown initiatives in 2014, the two non-profits have been working closely together and have been exchanging Best Practices notes. As a result of this, both organizations recently completed an ambitious project, supplying every hospital in Poland with LEGO and DUPLO toys for their children wards.

“It’s amazing to me that we actually were able to pull off something like a nation-wide Lego distribution project”, remarksAnna Borkowska, Chairwoman of the Polish Dr. Clown program. “I’m overwhelmed that we actually executed this monumental project together with our Czech partners. We want to thank LEGO, DR. Clown and DHL for making this happen in our country!”

And to give credit to whom credit is due, this article wouldn’t be complete without also mentioning the two companies who carried the lion’s share of the trip related expenses to make it possible for the Czech Dr. Clown team to attend Red Nosed day in Poland:

A big THANK YOU goes to Czech Airlines who were kind enough to transport our clowns free of charge and to CPI Hotel Le Regina, Warsaw, who helped our team to have several good nights of sleep on a complimentary basis.

It’s good to know that companies with a social conscience still abound and are alive and well! Thank you!