I would like to thank everyone who helped us during these difficult times. Thanks to your commitment, determination, and expertise, we can today celebrate the end of the school year in a beautifully renovated school that was damaged during last September’s floods. Without you, this ceremony probably would not have taken place,” said Tomasz Jurek, Principal of the Janusz Korczak Primary School in Nowe Świętowo (Opole region), during his speech.
It was a special end of the school year — on 27 June 2025, alongside about 60 students, the teaching staff, and parents, the event was attended by representatives of the Głuchołazy municipality, local village councils, firefighters from the Nowe Świętowo Volunteer Fire Department, representatives of the National Opera in Warsaw, and the Jakub Błaszczykowski Foundation (attended by Jerzy Brzęczek), donors who supported the school in various ways, as well as the management and employees of the Unibep Group and the Unitalent Foundation of the Unibep Group. It is thanks to several months of work by specialists from a construction company in Bielsk Podlaski that last year’s flood left no trace in the school.
The beautiful word “Thank you”
The word “thank you” was expressed in many ways during the event — from songs performed by the students to unique handmade cards, and special certificates, artwork, and medals awarded by the school management and the Głuchołazy municipal authorities.
On this occasion, the school management also recalled how much kindness they had received from many people, institutions, and companies. From the very beginning, starting on 15 September 2024, these included firefighters from the Nowe Świętowo Volunteer Fire Department, soldiers and volunteers, cooks from nearby Wilamowice, doctoral students and researchers from various Polish universities, staff from the National Opera, community activists from Poznań, the director and staff of the Botanical Garden in Warsaw, people from Radio Opole and the Opole police — and the list goes on.
“And later, once we had cleaned up and saw the extent of the damage, a company reached out to us and offered specialists who carried out a complete renovation of the buildings, including the replacement of damaged boilers,” recalled the school principal. “Today, nine months after the flood, the school has been fully renovated. We can welcome you in beautiful classrooms and a gymnasium, and everyone feels safe.”
“It was a spontaneous act of kindness from the heart. As we considered how we could offer concrete help to the flood victims, the idea came to us to renovate an educational facility that had been damaged in the flood. It was difficult because the building was heavily waterlogged — we had to use special technologies to insulate it against moisture, dry it out, and then carry out an almost complete renovation. We did it because nothing is impossible for us. We are proud of our work, and we can all admire what the school looks like today. I would like to thank all my employees who worked on this project,” said Andrzej Sterczyński, President of the Management Board of Unibep SA.
The Great Flood, the Great Help
Words of thanks to the donors and to all people of goodwill were also expressed by the authorities of Głuchołazy: Mayor Paweł Szymkowicz and Deputy Mayor Roman Sambor.
“We, as the local government, received incredible support during the tragedy, when our town and facilities across the municipality were devastated by the flood. It was a flood far greater than the one in 1997. We were not alone; almost immediately, a relief effort was launched by individuals and companies. That difficult time showed that Głuchołazy have friends all across Poland. I would like to thank everyone for the exceptional support and fantastic work done at the school in Nowe Świętowo,” said the mayor.
Jerzy Brzęczek, a representative of the Jakub Błaszczykowski Foundation, was also present at the ceremony. “This is something more than just help. Thanks to people of goodwill, a fantastic community of friends of the school in Nowe Świętowo has been created. It’s good to be in the company of good people," said Jerzy Brzęczek.
All participants of this special end-of-school-year celebration emphasised their pride in seeing happy children who have good conditions to develop their talents.
The strong bonds formed between people are best illustrated by the fact that during the honourable mention of the heroes of the school’s reconstruction — including the construction manager from Unibep, Andrzej Gehrmann, who worked on the renovation for five months — Alicja Królikiewicz, the teacher hosting the ceremony, affectionately said, “Our Andrzej.”
There is a continuation
During the ceremony, there was one more surprise — the firefighters from the unit in Nowy Świętów received a defibrillator from the Unibep Group, as they had not had one until now. This equipment will be installed in the new fire station, as the previous one was flooded during last year’s flood.
“We are glad we can contribute to improving the safety of local residents and support the local firefighters, who played an incredibly important role in battling the elements — and who we can always count on,” said Andrzej Sterczyński.
Now it’s holiday time, which means the school management — following the complete renovation of the building — will focus on tidying up and repairing the grounds and fencing around the three buildings in Nowy Świętów. One thing is certain — they can once again count on the support of kind-hearted people.
