The Grochowski family has been providing constant support to refugees for two years now.
Wladyslaw Grochowski and his wife, Lena, were rewarded by the United Nations for their action in favor of housing refugees.
Their network of Arche hotels offers 500,000 free accommodation places.
“On February 24, we welcomed the first refugees at the Lublin hotel, explains Wladyslaw Grochowski. The next day, 16 crisis centers were created in the 16 hotels. We welcomed everyone who came to see us. I’m proud that we managed to do all this – it was a real challenge.”
Kateryna Darynska is a Ukrainian refugee now employed by the Lena Grochowska Foundation. She recounts her arrival with tears in her voice:
“It was on April 2 that we crossed the border. We arrived in Janów, at the hotel. It was dark, at 2 a.m. When you leave with your whole family, with just one suitcase, and you don’t know where you’re going… we didn’t know, because it was such a journey, that you don’t even know where you’ll end up sleeping… and when we arrived there were cooks, a lot of staff…and we were given hot food. Then we went to the room we were assigned, and the first thing we did, we got on the bed, and we didn’t know not at all what to do next. We didn’t know anything, but we were warmly welcomed and supported by complete strangers. There was a whole busload of displaced people from different cities in Ukraine. They fed us, gave us laundry, they gave us everything. It was so important to us…”
Wladyslaw Grochowski adds: “I feel responsible for these people, and if I had more, perhaps I could afford to do more. It would be a shame if I did not recognize the needs of those who have less.”
The Grochowski family has been providing constant support to refugees for two years now. This is one of the reasons why UNHCR awarded him the Nansen Prize, as Andreas Kirchhof, senior advisor for external relations at UNHCR, explains:
“They didn’t just provide aid to refugees – they empowered them by helping them find work, get training, integrate socially, alongside other people in need, they also helped Poles in need. Second, they mobilized businesses. They worked with cities, they worked with humanitarian organizations, so it’s a whole of society approach that we see here that benefits the refugees “.
