INFORMATION PORTAL OF THE MARSHAL'S OFFICE OF THE KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE Region IN TORUŃ

This fall, the city’s first hostel with a café, employing 37 people with disabilities, will open in the heart of Toruń’s Bydgoskie Przedmieście. The facility will operate as a vocational rehabilitation center, with all proceeds going towards employee rehabilitation. Marshal Piotr Całbecki and Vice-Marshal Aneta Jędrzejewska today presented the agreement for the investment’s funding from the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (PFRON) to Toruń’s Mayor Paweł Gulewski and Vice-Mayor Dagmara Zielińska. The project’s initiator, Krystyna Żejmo-Wysocka, a former Toruń councilor and former director of the Department of Social Affairs and Health at the Marshal’s Office, also attended the meeting.

“This is the tenth vocational activity center in our voivodeship, and I am very pleased that it is being built in Toruń. The city has been actively supporting people with disabilities for years, and now it is donating a beautiful tenement house – a true architectural gem – for this purpose on Bydgoskie Przedmieście,” emphasized Marshal Piotr Całbecki.

“We are particularly committed to supporting those who need it most. The ZAZ (Vocational Activity Center) serves people with significant disabilities, including severe and moderate disabilities. This is a unique opportunity for them,” added Vice-Marshal Aneta Jędrzejewska.

The hostel, with 21 beds and a publicly accessible café, will operate 24/7, year-round. The facility will employ 52 people: 37 employees with moderate or severe disabilities and 15 support staff.

The Toruń Vocational Activity Center will be the tenth such center in our voivodeship. Similar centers already operate in Białe Błota (Bydgoszcz County), Bydgoszcz, Brodnica, Drzonów (Chełmno County), Przyjezierze (Mogile County), Radziejów, Tuchola, Włocławek, and Wąbrzeźno. The first ones were established in 2005. Currently, 446 people with disabilities are employed there. The new facility in Toruń increases this number and creates another space where people at risk of social exclusion will be able to participate in active professional life.

The regional government, as the administrator of funds from the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (PFRON), allocated PLN 1.8 million for renovation and equipment. The provincial government also provided the Municipality of Toruń with funds for the facility’s first year of operation. These funds come from our regional operational program.

Vocational Activity Facilities are a special type of business entity. Although they conduct services and manufacturing, they allocate all generated income to employee rehabilitation.

Press Office of the Marshal’s Office

August 18, 2025