Aid for Ukrainian Refugees in Krakow, Poland

[Scotia G]

Hi everyone!

During one of Ronen’s recent livestreams, many of you expressed interest in helping Ukrainian refugees.

Although I’m originally from Vancouver, Canada, I’m currently living in Krakow, Poland. Like so many other people here in Poland, I’ve opened up my home to refugees. I’m not able to host many people at one time, however, and so from a desire to do as much as I can, I’ve also started up a fundraising campaign:
https://gofund.me/db604918

I'll use the money in the following ways:

1) to help local initiatives here in Krakow that are providing aid - such as restaurants preparing hot meals for refugees arriving at the train station, organizations that are planning education for Ukrainian children, and facilities providing temporary shelter and accommodation for Ukrainian refugees;

2) to purchase large quantities of supplies (food, toiletries, medicine, blankets, sleeping bags, etc.) to donate to collection points in Krakow that are distributing them to Ukrainian refugees in Krakow, such as:
• The Migrant Info Point (Daszyńskiego Street 22, Kraków)
• Refugee Assistance Centre (Radziwiłłowska Street 3, Kraków)
• Wisła Stadium (Władysława Reymonta Street 21, Kraków)
• Museum of Municipal Engineering (Świętego Wawrzyńca Street 15, Kraków)
• Refugee Shelter (Berka Joselewicza Street 21, Kraków)

3) to donate money to the families I host, when they leave my home for longer-term accommodation or after deciding to leave Krakow for other cities or countries. I want to be able to give them a donation to help them feel more stable in this time of great uncertainty.
I’ll be grateful for every donated dollar!

If anyone feels more comfortable sending money through Paypal, my Paypal account is:
scotiavictoria@gmail.com

And for those of you who would also like to donate to an official organization or charity, I highly recommend Polish Humanitarian Action, which is doing great things for refugees at the border crossings:
https://www.pah.org.pl/en/donate/?fbcli ... f2pBc-rxEE

Greetings to you all!
Scotia

[douglas felsenthal]

Scotia,

I got your request through Ronen today. I had wondered what happened to that because I remembered you mentioning in chat on livestream a couple weeks back.

Anyway, I'm in process of donating and I have shared it with my rather extensive network of almost 5,000 folks on my social media connections. Let's hope that this does some good.

We are all anxious about Ukraine around here. It is a terrible terrible thing. I feel for Poland and the Urkainians. it's something that should never happen in our modern world.

I thought I would let you know that I'm doing what I can to promote your cause.

Regards,

[Scotia G]

Thank you so much, Douglas!

[Coral_M]

Thank you for the update Scotia. May you find the strength to keep going and to keep helping everyone. It must be so tough to be on the front line. You are an angel and our thoughts are with you all.

[Scotia G]

Thank you for the kind words, Coral! And - thank you for your donations so far!!! You've been very generous and the money has gone straight into Ukrainian hands.
xo

[Scotia G]

Thanks to everyone who has donated so far to the campaign! We've reached nearly 4,000 Canadian dollars!

https://www.gofundme.com/manage/support ... kow-poland

Here's an update on where the funds are going:

I made contact with the people who are running the fantastic initiative "Zupa dla Ukrainy Kraków" (Soup for Ukraine) in the old salt warehouse in the Zabłocie district of Krakow, in cooperation with Koalicja Otwarty Kraków. Normally, the building of the former saltworks is a huge art space (with artists’ workshops and a gallery) but now its focus is on helping refugees. They’re using part of the space as a soup collection & distribution point, and another part of the space is their “sklepik” (little shop), where refugees can come and take food, toiletries and various other kinds of supplies for free. Kasia, the main organizer of the initiative at the saltworks, told me that their “little shop” is nearly empty right now – they need donations. So I decided this was a good place for me to start.

Kasia provided me with a very precise list of items that would be useful – things that the Ukrainian refugees are particularly eager to take. The list included products such as flour, sugar, dry pasta, rice, sauces in jars, tinned fish, tinned meat, cornflakes, chocolate bars, toothpaste, etc.

My first trip was to Makro – a bulk grocery outlet in Krakow. A volunteer from the saltworks named Bartek Suder picked me up in his jeep, drove me to Makro, and helped me with the difficult work of loading and transporting all the products. After the jeep was packed up to the roof, we drove to the salt warehouse, where a team of 5 volunteers immediately jumped into action and unloaded the jeep, carrying everything I’d bought into a corner of the warehouse, where it was organized and then placed on the shelves for Ukrainians to take (those who come to the saltworks for aid) and to be distributed to various shelters in Krakow, where Ukrainians are being given accommodation.

This was my first bulk purchase. More to come! The volunteers at the saltworks are running a great initiative. Thanks to your generous donations, I’m able to help them! They send their deepest gratitude to all who have donated so far to this campaign.

Scotia
xo

p.s. Please spread the word about the campaign and share the link!
https://www.gofundme.com/manage/support ... kow-poland
___________________________

PHOTOS:

Bartek helping me choose the right food products for Ukrainians! Apparently, packages of "kasza gryczana" (buckwheat groats) are always greatly appreciated.



Bartek helping me choose chocolate bars.



Our two massive shopping carts full of stuff!



Bartek's fantastic jeep full of the supplies we got.



Volunteers helping to unload the jeep at the salt warehouse.



The supplies piled up in a corner of the warehouse, before being organized.



Me with Kasia (the initiator/organizer of "Zupa dla Ukrainy") and Bartek (who helped me transport all the supplies).



Volunteers placing the products on shelves, where Ukrainian refugees will be able to access them for free.