Food bank gala inaugurates 23rd Christmas Food Collection

Polish President Andrzej Duda and his wife, Agata Kornhauser-Duda, were honorary patrons of a ceremonial gala in Warsaw on Tuesday to inaugurate a Christmas Food Collection.

The president said at the event, also attended by volunteers, representatives of food banks and companies supporting the campaign, that everyone has an inner need to do good work and to share with others.

"It is very symbolic that this year the gala is taking place at the Olympic Centre, at the headquarters of the Polish Olympic Committee," the president said. "Everyone associates the Olympics with sporting rivalry, but above all with noble rivalry. (...) In this activity of the food banks, in this collection for the banks, for those in need, the most important thing is the issue of nobility. There is an essential need in all of us to do good. Each of us has a need to share with others to give of themselves, at least a small portion."

Duda thanked everybody involved in the organisation of the food collection and those engaged in it. "It's thanks to you, thanks to your engagement, that the great results of the collection are possible," he said, going on to thank the food banks for their year-round work.

"After all it's not just collections for Christmas," he said. "Many companies now take part, supermarket chains and markets, that send food to food banks so that it can be shared among the needy. Thank you for that contribution, for that work."