Ukrainehilfe

Im Mai 2022 durfte ich John und sein Lagerhaus an der polnisch-ukrainischen Grenze kennen lernen. Sie wurden Freunde, Partner, Helden für mich. Inzwischen sind sie zu einer internationalen Organisation gewachsen, bleiben ihrem Anliegen jedoch treu, Tiere und Menschen im Krieg zu retten und zu versorgen. Im Interview erzählen sie uns von ihrem Kampf, ihren Träumen und Zielen. Ein kurzer Traum vom Frieden - mitten im Krieg.  

Hier könnt ihr das ganze zu Tränen rührende Interview lesen.

Question Nr 1: 11 weeks ago, in may 2022, I was so happy to meet you guys on the polish-ukrain border. You call it warehouse. But for many many volunteers including me, who wants to help the people in the war, your place is a so called safe point. Can you imagine why?
Because we have made this home, and when people come here, we open our home to them. It has become more than just a place to store supplies and load up. We are here 24 hours a day 7 days a week and that brings comfort to people when they have been driving across Europe or through the mazes of checkpoints in Ukraine. They know that no matter what time it is, they will have a safe place to lay their head, grab a meal and have good company.

Question Nr 2. : You are officially registered as a non-profit in the state of Delaware! But You "are still the little warehouse with 'cheese John' that will welcome anybody anytime of the day, working to help those in Ukraine" as it read on your homepage. So why the registration?
We are a group from all over the world, and we had some options because of that. When we became WACI, we decided that we would do everything we could to deliver on our goals as long as we were needed. In order to do that, we knew we would need funding from multiple sources and from across the world. Since one of our board members is an American, we decided to go the U.S. route and register the charity there. Delaware just happens to be a very simple process to register a non-profit, we are currently waiting on our 501(c)(3) status from the IRS. Along with this we have established our business account as well. All of this helps establish us as a legitimate non-profit that will aid in securing more donations from a wide array of sources.

Question Nr. 3:How is the situation right now with you? How many organisation or volunteers, how many people go in and out of your place?
Mostly non-stop! On average there are 4 vans a day that go out, but some days it could be sunup to sundown of loading and un-loading. There are a few days where there is a little bit of sanity here but there is always something to be done. As far as the number of people that are in and out, this week alone saw over 20 people come and go, along with over 10 tons of aid that went to Dnipro, Zapa, Kharkiv, Lviv and all over Ukraine. The number of cars, vans and trucks is just constant. We are working well with a handful of drivers that have become fixtures, such as David, who is now securing fire trucks, Dane, who is here supporting Lions Club Alaska, Grzegorz, helping in more ways than imaginable, Ben, from BenHilfe in Germany collecting an amazing amount of donations, and others. However, we are now at a point that we are only able to help those we already have an established connection with. We don’t have the resources right now to take on new requests. We just are not getting enough product.

Question Nr. 4.: What do you need most actually? How can we help?
Funding and supply. In an ideal world the rent and utilities for the warehouse to be paid and to have a steady stream of food and supplies coming into the warehouse as needed.

Question Nr. 5.: Guys - you are helping since the start of war. do you actually take a break?
We do sleep. John has yet to stop, but he is planning on a few days away soon. Ula had to return to Mexico in order to deal with her passport and work on setting up all the charity information, so that was an extended break. Otherwise, we love what we are doing, this is not a job, it is a passion. We are doing our small part to make a difference, so it isn’t crushing, it’s exhilarating.

Question Nr. 6.: And my last question, What are your dreams and goals for the near future?
We wake up tomorrow and told that we are no longer needed, that now it is time to rebuild. Aside from that, we are wanting WACI to become recognized worldwide by expanding our social media footprint and attracting more donors and sponsors. We would love to have some direct donation sponsors from dog food or pet supply companies that would fill the warehouse on a regular basis. We want to continue to help those we currently are and potentially help more in need throughout Ukraine. There are so many shelters and individuals that have taken the responsibility to feed and care for those that are left behind with little or no resources available to them. We can’t help them all, but we will help those we can, the best way we can.

Ihr wollt mehr über John & Ula erfahren ? Hier gehts zu ihrer Website 

Jeder fängt mal klein an - so wie wir. Aus einer gemeinsamen Vision haben wir zusammen Schritt für Schritt etwas Großes gemacht. Darauf sind wir stolz.