From our Friends in Brussels, Belgium:
How You Can Help Ukraine: Three Ways to Give
Dear friends,
We are all in shock, and we are afraid. We are united in our concern as lives are threatened, and new pages of history are being written before our eyes. We feel compelled to act, and to provide meaningful opportunities for others to engage.
We are a values-in-action volunteering community, in cities all over the world. We care for people in need, people made vulnerable for many different reasons.
Let’s re-state those values: humility, compassion, respect, courage, love, hope. All so beautiful, and all in stark contrast to the evils of war.
And behind the obvious horrific headlines are countless other incidents of existing vulnerabilities made worse: homeless people helplessly exposed in the line of fire; more people made vulnerable to human traffickers who are lurking in the shadows; more people made to be disabled, and already disabled people without their support structures; children orphaned; refugees pouring out into neighbouring countries.
Our teams in Poland and Romania are active, and report extraordinary solidarity between everyday people as they care for as many people as they can. Let’s help them! STC family around the world: Unite!
Here are some practical suggestions:
1. Give Financially
If anyone would like to donate financially to Ukraine, Serve the City International will be collecting donations and, in consultation with our connection in the region, we will distribute the donations among people and organisations helping Ukrainians.
Donating online or through the STC International bank account can be found on the following link: https://www.servethecity.net/donate/
If you are in the USA and would like a tax-deductible receipt, you can donate through this link instead: https://my.simplegive.com/App/Form/597f3cd6-5c00-490c-ae85-ea9f103cbde7
Please share these details with others as well.
2. Give Supplies
If you are able to donate or transport supplies to Poland, there is a need for blankets, food, medical supplies, basic pain medicines, power banks, sanitary supplies, hats, heavy coats, gloves, and more – which will then be transferred to Ukraine via a cargo bus in the next few days.
If you can contribute towards this, please reach out to travis@servethecity.pl
3. Give Connections
On Sunday, Travis Mielonen of STC Poland shared with us regarding the situation of Ukrainian and international refugees entering Poland as well as the situation in Ukraine –
‘We have helped 150+ people find places to stay here in Poland, we are coordinating arrivals, accommodations, food, supplies and more. We have a few young couples in Lviv who contacted us for accommodation but now have not been able to cross due to the huge amount of people and long lines, they have a 2-month-old baby and don’t feel safe keeping her outside to cross the border, they will keep trying possible safer ways. However in the meantime, they are helping us help people across the border, they are buying supplies, power banks, etc, although the electronic stores in Lviv are all closed now, supermarkets have reopened for the meantime.’
If you know anyone in Ukraine that can also help or are already helping, please do connect them to travis@servethecity.pl