Christmas initiatives at the MUG

1.12.2022

As every year during the holiday season, units of the Medical University of Gdańsk engage in the organization of various charitable actions and events, supporting not only the youngest patients of the University Clinical Centre, MUG’s Clinical Hospital, as well as our English Division students, who will spend this special time away from their family homes and loved ones.

Welcome Point – Foreign Students and Employees Support Centre of the MUG has launched new editions of the action Przygarnij EDka na Święta/Take ED student in and the collection of gifts for patients of the UCC children’s wards. The first program allows Tri-City families to invite foreign students of our University to their homes for Christmas. This is an opportunity to introduce them to Polish culture and Christmas traditions, as well as to learn about customs cultivated in their home countries. Any family can sign up for the campaign, as well as any foreign student of the MUG who stays in Poland during the holiday season.

– Hosting foreign students for Christmas and showing them our culture is very important because it helps us see that our cultures are not so different. We have many things in common. Residents of other countries are also very family-oriented and share similar values as we do – explains Marzena Kołtoniak, coordinator of both events. – The action allows us to make friends and exchange experiences and traditions, such as culinary. It also helps Tricity residents open up to foreigners.

The second of Welcome Point’s initiatives is a collection for the benefit of the youngest patients of the UCC, organized jointly with the University’s functioning branch of the Phi Delta Epsilon student fraternity and the Department of Promotion of the MUG. Until December 9, 2022, in the corridor of building No. 13 (7 Debinki Street, Gdańsk), you can donate gifts, which, through the MUG students and employees, will go to the charges of the children’s wards of our University’s clinical hospital. Items for children of all ages are accepted, such as toys (except teddy bears), games, stationery, school supplies, teethers, or rattles.

– Children enjoy everything. Staying in the hospital, especially during the holiday season, they are often sad. A visit from Santa Claus is a comfort, an attraction, and a gesture of support for them. The gift is just an addition, but it is always pleasant – explains Marzena Kołtoniak. – The gifts are for all children, from the youngest to the oldest. We are looking for something that a teenager will enjoy, but also gifts for newborns. For hygiene and health reasons, we are not accepting only teddy bears and candy.

For detailed information on how to support both initiatives, please contact their coordinator, Marzena Kołtoniak of Welcome Point – Foreign Students and Employees Support Centre (Email marzena.koltoniak@gumed.edu.pl). They can also be reached at (58) 349 1787 and by email at welcome@gumed.edu.pl.