The Great Orchestra of Christmas Aid collected a record-breaking 47 million zloty (12 million euros) in this year’s fund raiser for sick children, the founder of the NGO, Jerzy Owsiak has told Polish Radio.

“A big thank you to everyone around the world,”  Owsiak said this morning, announcing that the total of 47,248,415 zloty beat last year’s donations by nearly one and a half million. A further 4.5 million is expected to be collected from online auctions and other find raising measures.

Around 120,000 volunteers were involved in the now annual charity action which took place in January. (pg)