Permanent access to literature in two hospitals thanks to Enchanted Libraries from TIM

More than 200 kg of books collected by volunteers-employees of TIM SA have been donated to the libraries available to patients of the Maria Skłodowska-Curie District Hospital in Skarżysko-Kamienna and the Rehabilitation Ward for Children and Adolescents in Dzierżążno, which is part of the Specialist Hospital in Kościerzyna. The campaign marks the beginning of partnership between TIM and the Zaczytani.org Foundation.

Just before Christmas, employees of TIM’s head office and sales offices from all over Poland took part in a huge book collection. Everyone could both bring brand new books and share books from their home collections (in good condition, of course). At the same time, the Zaczytani.org Foundation provided TIM with a list of institutions (hospitals, hospices, residential homes, children’s homes and single mothers’ homes, blood donation centres, prisons, local activity centres, etc.) whose patients, residents or wards were most affected by the lack of books. In a company-wide vote, TIM employees selected two of them to receive the collected books in the new year, creating new libraries called Zaczytane Biblioteki. The Maria Skłodowska-Curie District Hospital in Skarżysko-Kamienna and the Specialist Hospital in Kościerzyna – the Rehabilitation Ward for Children and Adolescents in Dzierżążno were selected.

Zaczytane Biblioteki guarantee their patients permanent access to literature and are not standard lending libraries. They function according to the idea of bookcrossing. Thanks to regular shipments of books from the central warehouse of the Zaczytani.org Foundation, everyone can take their favourite title from a Zaczytana Biblioteka library with them. Over the next two years, the costs of supplementing the Foundation’s book collections in both Zaczytane Biblioteki libraries will be paid for by TIM SA.

‘The result of the pre-Christmas book collection surpassed our wildest expectations;, more than 200 kilograms of books brought to the Zaczytani.org Foundation warehouse by TIM employees. We are delighted that so many people took part in this micro-scale volunteering during this special period. ‘We didn’t want to stop there, hence our decision for TIM to take care of two Enchanted Libraries’, says Michał Kostrowicki, head of the ESG and Corporate Communication Team at TIM SA. ‘However, this is not the end of the partnership between TIM and the Zaczytani.org Foundation in the area of employee volunteering. I hope that we will soon be able to announce further activities involving members of our #dreamTIM’, he adds.

‘For us, a book and its wise use is a good occasion to talk, develop relationships, educate, inspire and create social projects. We would like to instil in every Pole the idea that if they read a book, they can share it. Because in Zaczytane Biblioteki – contrary to mathematics – multiplication takes place through division’, explains Agnieszka Machnicka, president of the Zaczytani.org Foundation. ‘Libraries opened in children’s hospital wards help young patients get through difficult times of illness. Access to literature is access to a complex world of emotions and a tool for building relationships with guardians. Support from business institutions is particularly appreciated when it is multidimensional. This is the case with the partnership with TIM SA – mutual exchange of experience and mutual trust make it possible to carry out activities in an effective and satisfying way’, she emphasises.