On Saturday, our vans reached the orphanage in Ternopil and the children's hospital in Lviv, delivering the much-needed medicines, medical equipment and necessities they've been in desperate need of.
Our driver Melanie personally delivered all the goods to be sure that everything reached the right people. The rest of the team is eternally grateful to Melanie's work and impressed by the inspiring courage to go into a war zone to help children in need. Europe needs more people like Melanie.
But none of this would have been possible without the more than 200 people who have donated to the cause. There is still money left, and we're continuing our work to reach our goal of 10 000 euros so that we once more can drive to Ukraine — this time to the children's hospital in Ternopil.
Yesterday, three vans left Berlin and Brandenburg to go to Ukraine, and they're right now at the border waiting to get into the country. They will personally deliver our wares to our contact persons in the children's hospital in Lviv and the orphanage in Ternopil, and we will update you as soon as we have more information. We're doing this together with another fundraiser to save on resources.
The children's hospital in Lviv is receiving much needed specialized medicine to a value of 5000 euros (see the previous update for specifications). The orphanage in Ternopil is receiving basic necessities from their wish list to a value of around 700 euros, including children's thermometers and inhalers (see receipts here).
We didn't just want the necessities for the orphanage but also something special for the children. Therefore we bought 70 easter bunny chocolate figures. It may not sound like much, but a bit of tradition and something sweet for the children in these challenging times can be more important than one might think.
On Monday, we will receive catheters and other medical equipment needed by the orphanage, to a value of 635 euros, which we will deliver with our next convoy. This means that we will have around 3500 euros left (if we reach the fundraiser goal of 10 000 euros), which we will use to help the children's hospital in Ternopil that compiles a list of needed medicines right now.
All of this is made possible by more than 200 people donating to our fundraiser, showing solidarity with society's most vulnerable in a time of need.
We will continue updating you as soon as something new happens. Our transport is soon crossing the border, and we wish them safe travel doing this critical work.
Receipts for everything bought this round can be downloaded here.
Yesterday we sent out an e-mail to all donors (from whom we have e-mail addresses) to tell them about a change and ask about their opinion. This was the e-mail sent to them:
"Thank you very much for your support of our fundraiser to help the children in Ukraine. As you might know, on Saturday we picked up the much-needed medicines to a total cost of 5000 euros - made possible thanks to you and other supporters. Amazing! This will be delivered to Lviv this week.
While speaking to the chief physician he was eternally grateful for our work and your solidarity and told us that these were the most prioritized stuff that they needed. For the rest of the list, they've gotten help from other forces, and therefore the situation isn't as critical as before. He recommended that we instead focus our efforts on helping other institutions in Ukraine.
We're now in contact with an orphanage in Ternopil, around 140km east of Lviv, that is in desperate need of our help. Our proposal is that we continue the fundraiser as planned (for 10 000 euros, we've already achieved almost 80%) but that we use the last 5000 euros for the orphanage in Ternopil. Of course with full continued transparency and documentation, so that you know that every cent is spent in the right way."
Of all donors, 44 took place in the vote and 100% voted to use the funds to help the orphanage in Ternopil. Things in war zone change fast, and we need to be agile to make sure that our resources help where it's most needed, and therefore it can not be ruled out that more changes will come in the future. Everything will be communicated, and everyone who takes part in the fundraiser will have their say — what we can promise is that we will do everything we can to make sure that the money is best spent for children in this horrible war.
More about the orphanage
This is the story about the latest development in the orphanage:
"On March 2, our institution agreed to accommodate the evacuated children from the orphanage near Kyiv. Within 2 days, 3 rooms for children were re-equipped and prepared: plumbing, boilers, etc. were installed. We did not have enough beds and cradles, mattresses, pillows. The population responded to our request and there were enough beds per day to equip the rooms and the basement where the children are during the air raid.
The evacuation of the Kyiv Orphanage was conditioned by the beginning of a military offensive on Kyiv. The orphanage itself is located on the right bank of the Dnieper in a forest strip. Intensified artillery shelling in Kyiv did not allow personnel to replace others, as the connection between the left bank of Kyiv and the right bank was cut off. Hearing and seeing the shelling from the air, the director began to sound the alarm and ask for help to take the children to safety.
Health coordinators organized the evacuation, providing transportation by rail. The staff together with the children had to be accommodated in only one car - 55 children, including 25 children under 1 year (the youngest child was 3 weeks old) and 7 palliative children and 25 staff). They waited for almost half a day to leave the station. And in the evening the train left. At four o'clock in the morning the train arrived at Ternopil station, where we were already waiting for them.
Transport was provided to transport everyone to our orphanage. Two palliative children were sent to the hospital by ambulance immediately from the station to receive medical treatment. We prepare in advance everything necessary for the reception of children. They tried as hard as they could to keep them safe.
What is needed - a message from the director of the orphanage
Since 55 children were evacuated to me (now there are 85 children: 28 under one year old, 7 children under palliative care) and 17 workers, so I need:
- nebulizers (for inhalation) 3 pcs
- remote thermometers 3 pcs
- pulse oximeter for children under 1 year - 2 pcs ,
- children's tonometer (for pressure measurement).
- catheters for feeding children number 8, 10, 12.
- Nutrition: fruit puree. hypoallergenic mixture for children under 6 months
- hygiene products for children and detergents for the kitchen, toilet.
For the staff who arrived: - bed linen
- T-shirts
- drills T-shirts
- pants or leggings for them, 46-50 (M, L), height 160-170 cm.
Some of them came only in medical uniforms and clothes in which he came to work. Thank you.
Photos from the orphanage where the children most of the time have to hide in the basement to be protected against bombings and shelling.
This morning we picked up the first order (for 5000 euros!) of medicines for the children in Lviv. While it may not look like much, some of this could be the difference between life and death for children in need. We picked the medicines from the Ukrainian hospital's priority wish list and consulted with doctors in Berlin.
The attached picture shows the full receipt as well.
Sadly we encountered some unforeseen problems with the planned transport. After meeting the people responsible for the transportation, our gut feeling said that something was wrong — we don't have any proof, but crises like these also bring out the worst in people. We don't want to risk that the medicines don't get delivered or sold on the black market, so we decided to cancel the cooperation.
We're working on a new transport solution that will hopefully take place on Monday. It was a small bump in the road, but now we have the first batch of the crucial medicines and will deliver them as soon as possible.
This was all made possible thanks to your solidarity and charitable donations. We will keep on raising funds to buy the rest of the stuff from the wish list and hope for your continued support.
Share this fundraiser with everyone you know. Together we can make a difference.
Tomorrow at 10 am, we will pick up all the medicines for the first order from the pharmacy. We have also arranged transport together with other relief supplies for other hospitals in Lviv. Through this cooperation, we will save money on transportation, money that we can use to buy more of the needed medical supplies.
A truck will leave Berlin tomorrow and drive directly to the hospital in Lviv.
We are still in need of funding for this first order, which has a total cost of 5000 euros. If you can, please support the project.
Our goal is still to raise at least 10 000 euros, which means we will arrange at least one more transport. But time is of the essence here, and we want to get the most needed medicines to the children as soon as possible.
We've established contact with a very helpful doctor in Berlin, who is helping us at the moment. He is a Ukrainian himself, and we've connected him with the chief physician in the Communal Municipal Children's Clinical Hospital in Lviv to confirm which supplies have the highest priority. Today we're making the first order for 5000 euros, even though we haven't ultimately reached that target yet. We're ready to take the financial risk and hope for continued support.
The top priority is medications for newborns, which sadly are pretty expensive but can be the difference between life and death. We're getting all the necessary recipes from the doctor in Berlin, and he's also letting us purchase everything for the cost price without any added charges, which helps us a lot.
At the same time, we're arranging the transport to Lviv, but we can only finalize the details when we know exactly when we will have the medicines and the supplies.
We will keep you updated as soon as we have something new to share. Thank you very much for your solidarity, and please keep sharing the link to our fundraiser.
Military and political conflicts are complicated stuff, but children are always innocent. We have to do what we can to protect and help them. Together we can make a difference.
Today we've been visiting hospitals in Berlin to get help with ordering some of the medical supplies. Tomorrow we have quite a few more appointments to get the supplies ordered and sent to Lviv at the beginning of next week.
On the picture is organizer Jens Pühse (right) with Olha (centre), who has a sister in the hospital in Lviv. She's there with her prematurely born baby. Olha and Manfred (left) are helping with the organization and communication with Ukraine.
Olha is a refugee from Ukraine who's been in Berlin for two days and is highly motivated to help send supplies to the Communal Municipal Children's Clinical Hospital in Lviv.
At the time of writing this update, we've already raised more than 3200€, and we're overwhelmed by all the support and solidarity with the children of Lviv.
After a few days of intensive meetings and planning, we've launched the fundraiser for medical supplies to Lviv's Children's Hospital.
We've recently received this video from the chief physician showing mothers, nurses and babies taking shelter on the bottom floor because of the air raid alert. The hospital does not have a basement where they can hide.
Please help us get the much-needed supplies to the hospital as soon as possible, and be sure to share this page on your social media and with your friends and colleagues. Together we can make a difference.