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For over a decade, every month we have been supporting causes close to our hearts – this time, by Wojtek Wąsik’s decision, financial help will go to Magda Rejman, a 16-year-old suffering from type C lymphoblastic leukemia, as well as to the creators of the Linux Mint project.

At Sidnet, we strive to change the world in various ways. Our programmers are constantly creating new innovative solutions, we are driven by the desire to develop ourselves as well as the technology that drives the reality around us. However, an innovative line of code does not always have the power to change the world. That’s why we also help directly those who need support.

Like every month, we support two open source organizations, foundations or people in need, making the world a little better. We leave the decision to our colleagues.

Wojciech Wąsik is a true Sidnet veteran. He recently celebrated his seventh anniversary of working with us and during this time he has become known as a Full Stack Developer for special tasks. He is able to untangle programming Gordian knots and propose solutions that satisfy our clients and arouse admiration among other experienced developers.

Magda Rejman – a girl who got her chance

Wojtek is loyal not only to our company, but also to his loved ones, whom he supports at every possible opportunity. Once again, he selected the Przyszłość dla Dzieci foundation and their beneficiary – Magda Rejman – as the recipient of our support. The sixteen-year-old girl, daughter of Wojtek’s cousin, suffers from cancer – type C lymphoblastic leukemia.

Although her disease is currently in remission and Magda has not had to take chemotherapy since November, her immune system is still weakened and spending time outdoors is out of her reach. This does not stop Magda from dancing, playing, drawing and looking forward to the upcoming start of school – although it is still unknown whether she will go to school or learn at home.

Despite the positive prognosis, Magda’s treatment is not finished yet, so we are pleased to contribute to the expensive rehabilitation to restore her life to her dream normality.

You too can help Magda

Magda is one of 450 children under the care of the Przyszłość dla Dzieci foundation, which accepts any help – donations, collections or participation in charity events, as well as cooperation from companies and brands.

Visit the website and find out how you or your company can help – let’s build a Future for Children together.

Linux Mint – a green, open and ethical operating system

Monthly support as part of the #SidnetDonations campaign also includes open-source projects that are promising or beloved by us. Wojtek pointed to the Linux Mint operating system, which has been with him since the first days of his work with our team.

Linux Mint is an open, Linux-based operating system that meets all the needs of a modern user – professional and amateur. Comfortable, easy to configure, and offers great customization possibilities.

The system is equipped with a set of useful open-source software that supports graphic work, vector drawings, and 3D modeling in Blender, GIMP, and Inkscape, and also allows for a full range of office work thanks to the pre-installed LibreOffice package. Entertainment is provided by an extensive library of over 7,800 games in the Steam library.

Sidnet primarily supports projects that follow principles similar to ours, one of the most important of which is respect for user privacy. The creators of Linux Mint assure that they do not collect user data, giving them full control over the system. It’s your computer, so your rules apply.

Centralized system updates, a convenient and intuitive interface, and a huge user community make Linux Mint one of the most popular platforms based on the Linux architecture.

See you next month, when we will tell you again about two entities that we will support as part of the #SidnetDonations campaign!

The warm month of May has finally arrived, and the warmth from the heart comes even more naturally. In the May edition of our monthly donations campaign, we are happy to support the open source project Xmonad and Fundacja Podróżnych Ugościć (the Travelers Welcome Foundation) – and these recipients were selected by our web developer Łukasz Kozłowski (whom we once again congratulate on his recent third work anniversary).

Wikimedia Polska

Xmonad is a program that manages application windows in the operating system, with a primary purpose of letting the user conveniently and efficiently manage windows using only the keyboard. Łukasz’s words leave no doubt that this goal has been achieved: The big advantage of Xmonad is its configurability, thanks to which everything works the way it is convenient for me and after years of use, everything is within the reach of pressing a few keys. This improves not only productivity, but above all the comfort and ergonomics of using the computer, which I spend a large part of the day in front of. I can’t imagine going back to managing windows with a mouse. It is therefore not surprising that this is the second time that Łukasz has decided to support this specific project.

Fundacja Podróżnych Ugościć

Łukasz lived in Warsaw until recently, and it was in the capital that he came into contact with Fundacja Podróżnych Ugościć and its activities supporting refugees. These include, among others, organizing transport for people from war-torn Ukraine and providing help to those in need on the Polish-Belarusian border. Łukasz justified his choice of the Foundation as the recipient of our financial support by saying: I believe that everyone in need deserves help, especially people who have been forced to leave their homes and are looking for safety in our country.

Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human – this is the slogan of the Wikimedia Foundation, as well as its Polish partner, the Wikimedia Polska association, which since 2005 has been working for the development of Wikipedia, free knowledge and open culture. The Veritas Foundation, in turn, is a group of people working for personal and social development through various workshops and initiatives. Apart from common ideas of spreading knowledge and supporting development, what else do these organizations have in common? The fact that this month they will both receive financial support from us as part of the monthly #SidnetDonations campaign – and Marcin Szajda, a PHP programmer from our team, made his debut as the chooser.

Wikimedia Polska

Wikimedia, or more precisely the American Wikimedia Foundation, has already been a beneficiary of our donation in 2021. This time we are donating to its Polish partner, the Wikimedia Polska association, which brings together native creators of Wikipedia and other related projects.

Marcin justified this choice with the words: Universal access to reliable and organized knowledge is a key factor in the development of human civilization. In the Internet era, access to information is universal, but ensuring its reliability may be a challenge. Wikimedia is a global movement with a goal of providing free educational content to the whole world. Their most popular project, Wikipedia, is a free encyclopedia in which people from all over the world add information and keep it up to date, all without any fees. Currently, Wikipedia content is actively developed in as many as 326 language versions.

Moreover, Marcin summed up his own experience with Wikipedia as follows: I have personally used Wikipedia many times to look for information and have never encountered incorrect data. I also had the opportunity to fill in the missing information myself several times.

Veritas Foundation

“The power of change from within ourselves” – this is how the Veritas Foundation writes about its mission. The Foundation connects people with different life experiences who want to develop and help others in their personal development, through numerous projects carried out as part of the Foundation’s programs.

Marcin has been taking part in mountain runs for 3 years, including a run organized as an initiative of the Veritas Foundation, about which he said: The Foundation raises funds by organizing various events, including »The Run of the Cave Bear« held annually in August on the Śnieżnik Massif. All proceeds from this event go to charity. Last year I had the opportunity to take part in this event and it was a great challenge. Highly recommended to all running enthusiasts!

The ideas of personal development and physical activity have always been close to our company, which is why our entire team supports Marcin’s choice and we are happy to support the Veritas Foundation.

What do Maven and Siepomaga.pl have in common? Maven automates the process of building the project code, and Siepomaga.pl automates the process of starting a fundraiser and collecting funds that save someone’s health or life. This month, we will support these organizations in our #SidnetDonations campaign, and they were chosen by Nikolas Bruski, our programmer (whom we would like to congratulate once again on his recent work anniversary).

Maven

What is Maven? It is a tool for automating software development. Initially, since its initial release in 2004, Maven was used for projects written in Java. Currently, it is used with many other programming languages, such as C#, Ruby, and Scala.

Maven helps you throughout the entire software building process, from source code compilation to testing and writing documentation. Nikolas uses it very often, justifying his choice of this project as the recipient of our donation: “I decided to support this project because I use it every day to build, test and deploy our clients’ projects.”

Siepomaga.pl

The Siepomaga Foundation was created to achieve what may often seem impossible. Thanks to fundraisers, the organization of which is one of the main goals of the Foundation, it helps those in need in their fight against diseases, in rehabilitation, and in realizing their dreams. The Foundation has been operating since 2009 and its activities cover the whole of Poland.

Choosing Siepomaga as the target of our support, Nikolas emphasizes: “In a society full of challenges and needs, Siepomaga.pl stands out as a platform connecting people around the common idea of ​​help and support. Thanks to Siepomaga.pl, those in need have the opportunity to reach a wide group of people of good will who willingly support social initiatives. By supporting Siepomaga.pl, we participate in developing a society that joins forces for the common good.”

March is the month when many of us settle our taxes – we can decide who to donate 1.5% of the tax. If the choice is difficult, maybe it is worth supporting the Siepomaga Foundation – you can do it easily on the Foundation’s website.

Showing heart not only on holidays has become our custom. We repeat this gesture regularly, with the willing participation of our colleagues. For this edition of our company initiative, we invited Maksym, who has been working with us as a Frontend Developer for a year. Following his decision, we support the Matrix project and the Come Back Alive foundation.

Matrix

Matrix is an open communication protocol that is secure and platform-independent. Thanks to these features, it has gained popularity in the programming community. An example is our company messenger, based on Matrix, which we have been using for several years for daily communication.

Matrix has the potential to become a communication standard similar to email, allowing free exchange of information regardless of the application used. By using end-to-end data encryption, Matrix also ensures communication security, in which only the sender and recipient of a message can read it.

The Come Back Alive Foundation’s fundraiser to support the Ukrainian Army

Come Back Alive is a Ukrainian foundation that has been actively supporting the Ukrainian Army since 2014. The organization provides the military with specialized equipment and develops analytics in the security and defense sector. Since the Ukraine war outbreak, the foundation has been intensively raising funds to purchase equipment for the armed forces.

“The Foundation also supports smaller units fighting on the front, including the Marine Corps, in which my friend serves,” says our programmer.

Thanks to the generosity of donors, the organization has provided the Ukrainian Army with comprehensive equipment, including drones, night vision goggles, military vehicles, and advanced surveillance and reconnaissance systems.

Gabriel, a software tester on our team, shares our company’s desire to help. Gabriel devotes his free time to organizing RPG sessions for children at the Topory Association in his hometown of Rawa Mazowiecka. And we financially support two non-profit projects every month. In January, we joined forces with Gabriel to donate to initiatives of his choice: the Rawa for Animals Association, and Elementary OS.

Elementary OS

Elementary OS is a free and open-source operating system based on the Linux kernel. Its characteristic feature is a minimalist and aesthetic interface, making navigation and everyday work easier for new users.

Gabriel, having used this distribution for a long time, appreciated its simplicity. “This system makes it easier to switch to Linux for those who use MacOS or Windows on a daily basis. It is intuitive and does not require the use of a text-based terminal, which is a godsend for beginners.”

In addition to its accessibility, Elementary OS stands out for its well-thought-out native applications and AppCenter, from which users can easily download and update additional tools. All apps in AppCenter are reviewed for quality and security.

Rawa for Animals Association

The Rawa for Animals Association is an organization that actively helps homeless animals. It organizes numerous collections for pet food and publishes adoption advertisements, enabling the “lesser brothers” to quickly find a new home.

Gabriel, being a long-time supporter of the association, chose it as a beneficiary of our January campaign, supporting them in their difficult work. “Together with my fiancée, we try to help animals. The Association has supported us many times in various matters, even financing treatment,” emphasizes Gabriel.