"We will be hugging weeping people". Polish foundation to hold a Christmas dinner in Lviv

The Christmas dinner is being organised both for the residents of Lviv and war refugees seeking shelter in the city. Mikołaj Rykowski of Empty Seat Foundation was a guest of "Wstajesz i wiesz" morning show in TVN24.

"Seeing this difficult situation, we want to symbolically host them in Lviv. City mayor has agreed. Our teams depart tomorrow, and today we are preparing all the dishes. There will be borschts, uszkas (Polish traditional Christmas dumplings), cakes and salads" - Rykowski listed.

A special stands will be set up in front of the railway station for the people to hide from rain and snow. "This is the only place the mayor has designated as safe. In case of air raids, and unfortunately we have to take this under consideration, we will have to hide at the station platforms," TVN24 guest said.

He also explained it would not be a Christmas Eve supper known from the Polish tradition, but a Christmas dinner. This is mainly in order not to gather too many people in one place. The event will therefore take longer than usual and the food will be served from noon until evening.

Rykowski also drew attention to the symbolism of "the empty seat at the table". "It's interesting because an empty seat in Poland is meant for the lonely people, for strangers who are poor. And in Ukraine an empty chair symbolises a dead person who has departed. It's still very present nowadays, and I think in many cases we will be hugging weeping people," hesaid.

The volunteers heading to Lviv "are the same persons who hosted lonely people in Poland two weeks prior". "After two weeks they are rested enough to be eager to help again, and that is a challenge," Rykowski added.

Wolne Miejsce is seeking support on an ongoing basis. They mainly need food products and sleeping bags, and also gifts - especially for the children. Anyone who wants to help can contact the foundation via the webiste or social media, or simply send money via bank transfer with an annotation "na Ukrainę" (for Ukraine - edit.).