Gdańsk Christmas Market 2021
After a year's break caused by the pandemic, in 2021 we organised, while ensuring safe sanitary conditions, a Christmas Market in the centre of Gdańsk, which for 5 weeks over an area of 8,500 m2 brought joy to residents and tourists. We organised 49 catering stalls, 46 gift stalls and 26 food stalls. The company invited many social organisations to cooperate. We made the stage with Santa Claus available to children from neighbourhood and municipal community centres. Lasy Państwowe (State Forests) donated Christmas trees. The DKMS Foundation invited people to register as bone marrow donors, and the RCKiK Blood Bus was available for those willing to donate blood. We provided space for the Magic Wardrobe, which was used for exchanging toys (so-called toycrossing). An outdoor vaccination point was available for those wishing to get vaccinated against Covid-19. We also supported the organisation of a Christmas Eve gathering for people in need, organised by the Dominican Fathers. Part of the proceeds from the sale of market mugs in the online shop went to the Fundacja Hospicyjna (Hospice Foundation).
Results:
- 100 programme events held involving children
- PLN 55,555 raised for the Fundacja Hospicyjna together with Grupa GPEC
- 1,000 toys donated by Gdańsk residents as part of #toycrossing
- 2,330 people vaccinated at the outdoor vaccination point set up together with Copernicus
- 200 people in need took part in 2 Christmas Eve gatherings
- 350 Christmas trees donated by Lasy Państwowe came from selected areas, planted as designated wasteland, which after the event were chipped to fertilise other crops
Gdańsk Christmas Market 2022
In 2022, the charitable campaigns just kept coming. There's no denying that they have become an inseparable part of the Gdańsk Christmas Market. This year the Market was the largest in its more than 20-year history. It occupied a space of approx. 16,000 m2 . The space was filled with 165 festive stalls, including 61 catering stalls offering cuisine from 20 countries around the world, 78 craft and artist stalls, and 26 food product stalls. The Gdańsk Christmas Market, thanks to nearly 50,000 people from 179 countries, took an honourable 2nd place in the "European Best Christmas Market 2023" competition. Besides the artistic programme, charitable campaigns were also carried out, in line with those from 2021. The organisers supported, among others, the Fundacja Hospicyjna, for which funds were raised together with Grupa GPEC, as well as through the donation of part of the proceeds from the sale of market mugs. In the final days of the event, purchasing two or more mugs allowed you to „adopt” a plush bear from the Bear Gate.
Results:
- PLN 53,333 raised together with GPEC for the Fundacja Hospicyjna
- Christmas Eve for those in need – a festive meal prepared by the Polish Chamber of Commerce for Restaurateurs and Hoteliers
- Bethlehem House of Bread – an event by Caritas of the Gdańsk Archdiocese promoting the idea of volunteering
- Joint carol singing by preschoolers from Gdańsk schools and a charity concert whose proceeds went to the Fundacja Hospicyjna
- Ukrainian carols – an initiative by an amateur choir of women war refugees living in Gdańsk, who gave their performance as a thank you for their welcome in Poland
- 3,033 market mugs found new owners
- 300 books in the festive bookcrossing scheme
- 300 teddy bears at the Teddy Bear Gate
- THE WISH GRANTED campaign – MTG SA supported a MOPS Gdańsk beneficiary with computer equipment fitted with a special controller
Gdańsk Christmas Market 2023
The 2023 Christmas Market brought the magical mood of Christmas for four weeks. More than 80 handicraft stalls and more than 60 catering stalls were set up at the event.
The Christmas Market brought joy to hundreds of thousands of visitors and Gdańsk residents. Many social organisations were invited to cooperate. At the Gdańsk Christmas Market, visitors could join charitable campaigns supporting the Fundacja Hospicyjna. Besides volunteers collecting for the Foundation, help was also given in other ways. Grupa GPEC, together with AMBEREXPO, raised funds in an original, festive way. At Grupa GPEC's winter cabin, you could buy tickets entitling you to activate "The Magic of Christmas" (instaspot) with a single button. The proceeds from the tickets were donated to the Foundation's beneficiaries.
Plush toys from the Bear Gate also "encouraged" support for the Foundation; for three weeks of the Market they decorated the entrance to Santa's Workshop in the Zbrojownia, before being split up and moved to the Gdańsk Tourist Organisation's cabin, where buying two market mugs earned you a plush bear. Part of the proceeds from market mug sales will go to the Foundation's account. The amount raised during the market's campaigns for the Fundacja Hospicyjna exceeded PLN 55,000.
For the auction held during the Fundacja Hospicyjna Charity Ball, some items from the market's Christmas Treasury of Ideas were donated – more than 40 exhibitors from the Zbrojownia contributed Christmas gift proposals to it, which, after the event ended, were donated to the worthy cause. The organiser donated the remaining part of the Treasury to the Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy (Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity).
"Give a Future – Foster Care in Gdańsk" was a campaign that promoted adoption and support for foster families during the Market. Meanwhile, the local integration centre for people with intellectual disabilities organised two days of workshops, during which decorations made of salt dough were created and the art of decoupage was taught. The workshops were attended by the centre's beneficiaries, who presented various handicrafts. These could be purchased as a way of supporting the centre.
Helping those most in need is also a Market tradition. At the close of the Market, in cooperation with the Miejski Ośrodek Pomocy Rodzinie (Municipal Family Assistance Centre) in Gdańsk, a person was selected to whom the Market's organisers, MTG, donated equipment and essential everyday products.
A Christmas Eve gathering for people in need was also held, at the initiative of the Polish Chamber of Commerce for Restaurateurs and Hoteliers and the "Górka" Academic Chaplaincy, operating at the Dominican Church of St Nicholas. MTG rented space for this special occasion and provided organisational support to help the noble cause. At the Market, visitors could also take part in exchange campaigns: toy exchange (toycrossing) and book exchange (bookcrossing). During the Christmas Market, funds were also raised by the OmeaLIfe, Bez Hałasu and Caritas foundations.
Results:
- PLN 55,000 raised for the Fundacja Hospicyjna together with Grupa GPEC
- Several hundred people in need attended the Christmas Eve gathering
- More than 5,000 market mugs were sold throughout the Market, and part of the sales proceeds went to the Fundacja Hospicyjna's account
- More than 250 plush bears found new owners
- A rehabilitation bed was donated to a MOPR beneficiary