Several months ago, even before the summer break, Joanna Kmiotek, an employee at Capgemini, had an idea to help children in need. It all started when she came across the „First Step into IT” project organized by the Hearty Foundation on Facebook. This marked the beginning of a collaboration that concluded with effective workshops for children in Krakow.

Katarzyna Zagórska, the project leader from Capgemini, shares the story:

„Our idea was to organize educational sessions for children where we could share the experience and skills we use every day while working at Capgemini Poland. 

To bring it to life, we reached out to the Hearty Foundation and utilized the Capgemini Grant Program, through which the corporation annually supports ideas from its employees engaged in activities for the local community.

After several meetings with enthusiastic employees, the Foundation, and lively discussions, we decided that two IT specialists from our company—Tomasz Cieślar and Krzysztof Baranowski—would conduct several-hour programming workshops for the foundation’s beneficiaries—children and youth from Krakow’s care and educational institutions.”

Other individuals, including Joanna Kmiotek (the project initiator), Adam Rasiński, Asia Kukla, Agnieszka Kuś, Piotr Zagórski, Anna Cencora, Magdalena Bugdoł, Justyna Lewandowska, and Paula Cieśla, assisted in organizing the event and supported the instructors during the sessions.

Now, it’s time for the workshops to commence, led by Kasia!

Followed by Tomasz and Krzysztof taking over the reins.

Robert Ziarnik, a volunteer and mentor for the Foundation, who has long been dedicated to the development of our talented beneficiaries, generously supported us. 

Thanks to the dedication and creativity of Capgemini volunteers, each participant received a commemorative diploma and a surprise gift!

After the learning, it was time for a break!

„For us as volunteers, a very interesting experience was engaging in conversations with the children about their passions and interests. In the end, the most satisfying moment was seeing eleven exceptional, smiling faces.”

During their visit to the company, the children not only spent time in front of computers—the trip to the 11th floor of the office building and a feast in the office kitchen were undoubtedly the highlights of the day.

A gallery of other photos from the event:

On behalf of the Foundation and our kids, I sincerely thank you for the implementation of the entire project. Due to the preparation of an original lesson plan, it took a considerable amount of time. We are grateful to the entire Capgemini team for every hour spent on project preparations and execution and dedication, passion, and joy conveyed to our beneficiaries.

Written by: Alicja Magiera-Bąk – Hearty Foundation’s Project Leader