Polish activist in city on scooter fund-raiser

By Diane Graff of the Daily Times staff
Friday, October 3, 2008 12:41 PM CDT

Shivering outside the Candle-Glo Motel in Watertown this morning, a 28-year-old activist from Poland was getting ready to depart on another day's journey across the continental United States.

Krzysztof Dzienniak is on his roundabout way to get on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in Chicago, Ill.

Dzienniak's journey began Sept. 15 in Maine and he plans to cross all 48 states before arriving in Chicago for the show sometime in January 2009.

But the road to the show has to be something eye-catching and different. So Dzienniak is riding a personalized scooter that gets about 100 miles per gallon of gas to get attention and raise money for bone marrow donors.

Dzienniak's trip is called “20,000 miles of street sailing.” Originally, Dzienniak began his travels on a street boat, complete with sails. But he then decided to ride a vehicle more adaptable for American highways. He began his fund raising in a golf cart.

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But when he got to New Hampshire, he found out that it was not legal to ride a golf cart on some highways. He has since modified his mode of transportation to a moped, complete with the sails and his 3-year-old daughter's first teddy bear strapped to the handlebar.

The name of the project is symbolic because he said there are 20,000 Polish donors ready to give bone marrow, but there is a lack of financial resources for the tests.

“He is seeking money to test for bone marrow,” his companion on the trip, Aleksandra Izworska, said. “Not everyone can go to Oprah and ask for money,” she noted.

This is not the first charity project Dzienniak has undertaken. In 2004, he roller-skated across 11 states from New York to Washington in 100 days to get Microsoft founder Bill Gates to raise money for the medical treatment of two Polish girls. The trip was a success as Gates donated $20,000 to the cause.

“This is not a personal issue but a problem in Poland,” Izworska said. “This is his first charity project that focuses on a group of people,” she said. “In Poland, people would like to be donors, but there is not enough money to do the tests.

“People in United States are very interested in this project,” Izworska said. “Many people wave and ask questions. We have met many good people on this journey, some that give us a place to stay and food.”

If anyone would like to help, Dzienniak said they can e-mail Winfrey that a man from Poland is riding across the 48 states to her show and is seeking support for his charity.

For more information, go to Dzienniak's Web site at 20000miles.net.