The golden heart of ski jumpers
The Golden Heart of Ski Jumpers
Ski jumpers from all over the world willingly support various charity events by giving away their skis, suits, photos and other gadgets for auctions to raise money for people in need. Earnings from those auctions changed the life of many people. Let me introduce to you the most interesting ideas of support by ski jumpers.
Recently in Bischofshofen the representative of the USA Nick Fairalla had a very dangerous fall. On the rallyme.com platform USA Ski Jumping is collecting a fund for his rehabilitation. The Olympic Champion from Sapporo 1972 Wojciech Fortuna decided to help him and is now giving away his most precious medal for auction.
‘- I was happy because of my most precious medal for very long. Now I prefer to help in return to the health of this American jumper. Why do I want to support him? Well, I was very sad because of the fact that he hasn’t got enough money for medical treatment and the United States have a special place in my heart. There I rebuilt myself mentally and financially.’ – explains the Polish champion.
Until this moment the fundraising collected over 15 thousand dollars - but even the raising limit 25 thousand dollars is only half of what is needed.
Organizers of charity auctions make sure they will be attractive and interesting for all the people, who are donating. Every year all over the world the “Wings for Life World Run” takes place. "Wings for Life World Run" is an unusual run, because the finish line is chasing the runners. Half an hour after the runners start the race on the route sets off the chasing car, which at the beginning moves with the speed of 15 km/h and increases hourly. An athlete, who is caught up by this car, is unfortunately eliminated. The run ends, when the car overtakes the last runner. All the money is intended to researches over spinal cord injuries and the main sponsor of the event is the Red Bull company. Last year the following athletes took part in that race: Andreas Goldberger (Austria) with the final result of 40.60 km, Adam Małysz (Poland) 19.18 km, Gregor Schlierenzauer (Austria) 18.56 km, Sarah Hendrickson (USA) 17.40 km, Thomas Morgenstern (Austria) 10.07 km, Andreas Wellinger (Germany) 7.67 km and Jacqueline Seifriedsberger (Austria) with the result of 5.04 kilometers.
It isn’t the only interesting event, in which ski jumpers help. Since 2011 in Szczecin, a city in the north-west of Poland, there's a charity volleyball match organized. The stars of volleyball and ski jumping take part in this match. The money that is collected during the match goes to the children’s hospice. In the last year’s edition of the match the foundation collected over 126 thousand PLN and the tickets were sold out in 1,5 hour!
By coming to see this match you have the opportunity to meet a ski jumper, but it isn’t the only way you can do this and help to raise money for the charity goal. In 2014 Maciej Kot came up with an unusual idea – he gave something special for this auction… himself! The person, who won the auction had the opportunity to meet the Polish ski jumper during a special meeting in one of the restaurants in Warsaw. Polish jumpers also support other foundations by giving away gadgets and handmade Christmas or Easter decorations.
The last thing I would like to tell you about is the “Szlachetna Paczka” (‘The noble box’) auction. Every year people from all over Poland, not only the TV or sports stars, engage themselves in this charity event, which comprises creating a present for the poorest families in Poland. ‘The noble box’ contains food, chemicals, clothing, toys, furniture – everything what a specific family needs. I think it is an amazing idea and together with my friends I also took part in it.
There are many ways to help other people. I think it is really amazing that ski jumpers really want to help each other and other people in need. We invite you to join Nick Fairall’s rehabilitation fund, which you will find under this link.
-by Anna Sobol
