Volunteers to bring hot meals, healthcare to Krakow’s homeless

Tomorrow from 11.00-17.00 on Krakow’s Main Square, locals are coming together to help the city’s homeless.

Volunteers hope to give out over 50,000 free meals to Krakow’s less fortunate. The dishes, which chefs have been preparing since Friday, will mostly consist of traditional warm Polish food like pierogi, borscht, and cabbage.

There will also be about 50 doctors on hand to provide basic medical care and diagnoses.

Local restaurateur and philanthropist Jan Kościuszko has been organizing the event since 1996, making this the 21st edition. More important than the food, Kościuszko has said, is “meeting each other.”

The Polish Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Policy estimates that there are about 33,400 homeless people in Poland, the vast majority of whom are men. Compared to the last survey two years ago, there has been an overall decrease, though the population in the Małopolska Voivodeship (to which Krakow belongs) has seen a slight uptick.