Rolling Pole crosses U.S. in appeal to Bill Gates

By Rachel Tuinstra
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES After rollerblading more than 100 days, Krzysztof Dzienniak pushes his way up a leafy Redmond sidewalk in pouring rain yesterday.

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After nearly 3,000 miles and more than 100 days of blistering rollerblading, Krzysztof Dzienniak stopped a block away from his finish line yesterday morning to catch his breath and calm his nerves.

Up ahead he could see the red-and-white Polish flag being waved and about 20 people gathered to see him roll onto Microsoft's Redmond campus, ending a journey that began in New York on Aug. 28.

Dzienniak, a Polish citizen, trekked across the country to ask Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to help pay the medical bills for two Polish girls: 7-year-old Monika Mosur, who was born with hydrocephalus, and 10-year-old Patrycja Bialkowska, who lost a foot in an accident.

"I have much stress and anxiety now," Dzienniak, 24, said as he prepared for the final leg of his trip. "I hope Bill Gates will help."

Dzienniak's trek and his resolve to help the girls has gotten Microsoft's attention, said Tami Begasse, Microsoft spokeswoman.

Before he left Poland, Dzienniak met with Bartlomiej Danek, spokesman for Microsoft's Warsaw office, and through that meeting Microsoft's corporate headquarters became aware of Dzienniak's journey.

"He seemed like a man prepared for this trip," Danek said. "We were close to him. We made suggestions where to stay. I asked about friends he could stay with."

The company has set up an employee giving campaign for the Polish girls in which Microsoft will match all employee donations, starting with Gates' personal donation of $1,000. Employees can donate to SOS Children's Villages, a worldwide nongovernmental, nondenominational child-care and welfare organization. The money will be earmarked for the girls' care, Begasse said.

The combined costs of the girls' medical treatment in Poland are estimated to be about $20,000, said Danek. Their families are unable to afford the treatment they need, he said.

Dzienniak, who lives in Warsaw, heard about the girls through news accounts and was moved to help. After reading about Bill Gates' recent trip to Poland in 2003 and his charitable generosity, Dzienniak decided to bring the plight of the two girls to the billionaire's attention.
 
"They are just kids, they are innocent and handicapped," Dzienniak said. "If we won't help them, who will?"

Dzienniak, a rock-climbing instructor in Poland, also was inspired by the movie "Forrest Gump" to traverse the entire United States. But instead of running, as the character in the movie does, Dzienniak decided to glide on rollerblades.

He wore out three sets of rollerblading wheels as he skated about 3,000 miles from coast to coast, averaging 32 miles a day. He took side roads most of the way, which are safer for rollerblading than the main highways. He walked about 20 percent of the time because the roads weren't suited to rollerblading.

Early in his trip, his rollerblades were stolen when he took them off at a gas station near the small town of Millville, Pa., to buy bottled water. The theft left him dejected and wondering how he would finish the journey by foot, but a man Dzienniak had barely met plopped down $150 for a new pair of Nike rollerblades.

"He was a kind man. I really appreciate it," Dzienniak said.

Because he doesn't speak English well, Dzienniak carried copies of newspaper articles detailing his journey to help explain what he was doing. He would sometimes seek shelter at local churches, and on occasion he camped under bridges or out in the open. But most of the time, strangers — who quickly became friends — put him up for a night or two. Dzienniak often received help from Polish Americans.

"I think he's amazing," said Joanna Dodek of Sammamish, who gave Dzienniak a place to stay last weekend. "What he has done is inspiring to me. Nothing has been able to stop him from finishing what he started."

Another supporter, Czeslaw Niczyporuk of Spokane, took yesterday off to watch Dzienniak finish his journey. Niczyporuk let Dzienniak stay in his house several nights as he came through the Spokane area.

"I heard about [Dzienniak] from a friend in Wenatchee, and I met him and I see that he is very, very hardworking," Niczyporuk said. "I wanted to see how it ended."

Rachel Tuinstra: 206-515-5637 or rtuinstra@seattletimes.com