IN A SPORTS ENVIRONMENT, PEOPLE ARE OPEN TO HELP OTHER PEOPLE
“In the spring of 2022, after the Russian aggression began, the Galician Lions hockey team came to our town. The players, aged 9–13, found refuge from the war. They were able to train under the guidance of their coach and thus survive the most dramatic beginning of the war more easily,” says Katarzyna Zygmunt, a social and local government activist from Krynica-Zdrój.
“I asked junior teams from Nowy Targ, Sanok and Janów, who cooperate with us, to come and play a charity Tauron Hockey Cup tournament to help raise the needed funds. Tauron Polska Energia SA sponsored the prizes and the cost of hiring referees, and the media support in publicising the event helped us a lot. Thanks to this, the kids from Galician Lviv were able to go to the games in Austria. The opportunity to continue training, to participate in sport gave them joy and made them forget about the war, at least for a moment,” adds Katarzyna Zygmunt.
“In August, as Infinitas KTH, we organised another event in which the Galician Lions played against teams from Lviv and Janów. It was a kind of ending of the Ukrainian team's stay in Krynica. The Ukrainian players felt good in Krynica and very much wanted to stay here, but we knew that due to work related to the European Games our ice rink would be closed for the whole season. Their coach therefore decided to enlist the help of the Slovaks, who offered to make their rink available,” explains Katarzyna Zygmunt, who was involved in coordinating the Ukrainian athletes' stay in Krynica-Zdrój.
Residents of the resort were actively involved in helping Ukraine and those fleeing the war.
“We organised collections - our hall became a hub for aid, residents brought the most necessary items here, which we then distributed to those affected by the war. Help for Ukraine in Krynica was like that in the rest of the country, everyone got involved!,” says the local government activist.