Polish forward Piotr Zieliński, who plays for Serie A club Napoli and the Poland national team, bought and renovated two buildings in his hometown of Ząbkowice (Lower Silesia) to turn them into orphanages under his “Peter Pan” foundation. 

The “Peter Pan” foundation aims to help children growing up in families impacted by alcoholism and other pathologies such as abuse. 

“We want to provide psychological and organisational support not only to [the children in need] but also to their families, regardless of whether they have been affected by disease, poverty or crisis in their relations with the social environment” – we read on the Peter Pan Foundation’s website.

“We believe that emotional and substantive support will allow them to survive a hard time, take advantage of difficult experiences, and cope better in life. We believe that by building a network of volunteers, we will be able to maintain and multiply the aid provided,” – the foundation further explains. 

The player’s parents handle the everyday coordination, while he pays visits to the youngsters being taken care of from time to time. 

The Peter Pan Foundation is a public benefit organisation. It is based in Wrocław and operates throughout the region of Lower Silesia. Its initiator, Piotr Zieliński, has already announced his plan to buy additional facilities so that more children can be cared for in the future. 

Image: Instagram (zielu_94)

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen