Tisa Żawrocka-Kwiatkowska is a President of the Gajusz Foundation and a film expert by training. She has been helping terminally ill children since 1998. The impulse to set up the organisation came at a tragic moment in her life. Her son Gaius was 8 months old. He had been in hospital almost since birth. The doctors began to prepare his mother for his death. At the time, she promised that if the toddler survived, she would set up a foundation to care for sick, needy children. A few days later, Gaius recovered and she kept her word.
The Gajusz Foundation has become one of the largest non-governmental organisations in the Łódzkie Voivodship, and in terms of the scope of its activities and the number of patients under its care it stands out in the entire country. It runs three children's hospices, the Tuli Luli Intervention Preadoption Centre and the Cukinia Centre for Therapy and Help for Children and their Families. It helps children with oncological illnesses and their families - during and after their illness. It runs a programme for siblings of sick children and a programme to find foster families for its patients.
Each year, the foundation supports more than 1,000 families. The organisation employs more than 160 people (mainly medical staff and therapists), has almost 300 volunteers and an annual budget of more than PLN 12 million. Such a large organisation can only be managed by an efficient manager. In this case, it is also a manager with a big heart.
