Photo: Contributed

A Kelowna man has donated $50,000 to Okanagan College’s new Health Sciences Centre in memory of his mother, who survived two years in Nazi concentration camps.

John Sokolowski wants the money to go towards an early childhood education classroom that will be located in the centre, which is currently under construction and is being funded in part through the Our Students, Your Health fundraising campaign. The donation was made in honour of his mother, Janina.

“My mom was a champion of education for as long as I can recall,” Sokolowski said in a press release. “The gift to the college will help educate future early childhood educators, who can teach the values of acceptance and inclusivity from an early age.”

Janina was born to a single mother in Poland and was working for a Jewish family in Warsaw when she was taken by the Nazi regime and sent to both Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. She witnessed the worst and came to the realization that education was the essential vehicle to teach people acceptance of differences, respect and consideration of all.

“My mother always had a soft spot for children and so supporting early childhood education would mean a lot to her,” Sokolowski said. “In her later years she also depended on the health-care system. Her back was broken in Auschwitz, which created health issues for her later in life, so giving to a new Health Sciences Centre that will train future health professionals is really full circle for us as a family.”