Ocalenie Foundation has been supporting people with experience of migration, including refugeeism, to build a good, safe life in Poland since 2000. We provide assistance to all foreigners, regardless of which border they arrived in Poland through and from which regions of the world they come from.
The heart of the Ocalenie Foundation is the Help Center for Foreigners in Warsaw, which has been providing free assistance to foreigners since 2004. This assistance includes support in day-to-day matters, such as contacting offices or schools (provided by cultural mentors, working in several languages), legal assistance, psychological assistance, and career counseling.
Key initiatives of the Ocalenie Foundation also include:
Free Polish language courses for adults
Our language courses have been conducted since 2009 at all language levels, from completely basic to advanced. Classes are held thanks to the commitment of volunteers, thoroughly prepared for this and supported by the Foundation.
Integration and housing programs
“Welcome Home” program
A comprehensive initiative supporting the integration of refugees. As part of the program, we provide refugee families with assistance in finding suitable housing, rent subsidies, Polish language courses, and psychological, legal and family assistant support. The program has been run by the Foundation since 2017.
“Refugees Welcome Poland” program
The goal of the program is to connect people with refugee experience with residents of Warsaw and the surrounding area, who are willing to rent a room to them. In this way, we help refugees find a roof over their heads, while at the same time opening the way to integration, getting to know each other and breaking stereotypes. “Refugees Welcome Poland” is a grassroots initiative that became an activity of the Ocalenie Foundation in 2016.
Magazin
Our point-based operating “shop” for free distribution of in-kind assistance, including clothes, shoes, toys, cosmetics, household chemicals.
Job training
We offer vocational activation programs for refugees, as well as a range of other activities (meetings, workshops, trainings, support groups) aimed at encouraging self-advocacy and active participation in social life for people with experience of migration, including refugees.
Educational activities for foreign children and youth
Programs aimed at children and young people from migrant and refugee families are a very important part of Ocalenie Foundation’s permanent activities.
The tutor-scholarship program Knowledge to the Max aims to support the education of refugee youth – primarily those with learning difficulties and at risk of dropping out. The program has been in operation since 2018.
We also run two day care centers for children in Warsaw, and immediately after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ocalenie was present at reception points and long-term accommodation centers for people fleeing Ukraine.
Activities on the Polish-Belarusian border
Since August 2021, we have been present and active at the Polish-Belarusian border, where we provide humanitarian assistance to people on the move. We also conduct advocacy activities, opposing pushback policies and human rights violations at the Polish borders. We actively review the Polish government’s work on migration and integration policy and loudly oppose racism and xenophobia.
Organization and financing
The Ocalenie Foundation has the status of a public benefit organization, is not for profit and does not conduct business activities. All our activities aimed at foreigners are free of charge.
Commercial activities (e.g. workshops for companies, expert services), the income from which fully supports the statutory goals of Ocalenie Foundation, are conducted by Ocalenie spółka z o. o. Ocalenie Foundation is the sole shareholder of the company and has a decisive voice in the company’s activities.
More information about the Ocalenie Foundation data: