KBacks for children, crutches for adults – umpteen pairs of walking aids shine in red, yellow, orange and blue. They fill a whole corner in the small warehouse of the old fire station in Berlin-Wannsee. Around it, helpers have stacked boxes with bandages, diapers, sleeping bags and winter clothes.
“We are overwhelmed by so much willingness to help,” says Viktoria Kizman, “and we don’t even know where to put all this stuff anymore.” A friendly gentleman is just bringing his mother-in-law’s decommissioned walker.
It can easily be converted into a wheelchair for the injured, he explains. The donations collected were to be loaded on Friday evening. Early the next morning, Viktoria’s husband Anton and his neighbor Nikita Smutko wanted to leave and drive two trucks to the border with western Ukraine. Friends from Ukraine are waiting there to receive the relief supplies.
The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has triggered a wave of willingness to help. People pack boxes with relief supplies, take refugees into their homes – and donate millions of euros to organizations. But well meant is not always well done. With these tips, the help really arrives.
Donations of money to Ukraine
Numerous aid organizations ask for monetary donations in order to be able to help the population in Ukraine. “In order not to fall for fraud, the DZI donation seal can be a valuable help,” says Annabel Oelmann from the consumer advice center in Bremen.
It is awarded by the German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI) to eligible organizations on the basis of an annual review. The list includes large, well-known associations, such as “Aktion Deutschland Hilft” or the “Alliance Development Helps”.
If a call for donations bears the DZI star wreath, it is guaranteed that the organization is advertising clearly and objectively, says Oelmann. In addition, it would be economical and verifiably show how the donors’ money was used. However: “If a club is missing from the DZI list, this does not necessarily mean that it is dubious,” says Oelmann. Smaller organizations often cannot afford the seal.
Some of these organizations also collect donations for a specific purpose, i.e. with a so-called keyword. Others do without it. From the point of view of the DZI, supporters should donate without earmarking. “Aid is important everywhere, in Ukraine and in the countries that take in refugees and in which, for example, their integration is then to be promoted,” says the institute.
Support is also called for on social networks, such as Instagram. This is made possible by the donation function, with which users can share the actions in their stories and profiles.
In addition, users can also start their own collection campaign in the digital circle of friends, the money then goes to a selected organization. When making your selection, however, the DZI recommends taking a closer look.
“While well-known newspapers, radio or television stations usually select carefully which donation accounts they recommend, social networks have so far not had any comparably reliable selection mechanisms,” estimates the institute.
Odd, but possible: transfers directly to the Ukrainian government. Official channels call for donations in cryptocurrency on the Internet. In addition to Bitcoin, Etherum and USDT, transactions in Meme Coin are now also accepted.
“Now even Meme can support our army and save lives from Russian invaders,” wrote Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. More than 50 million dollars are said to have gone to the government’s account, according to specialist media.
donations in kind
Packing boxes with clothes is rarely effective. The larger organizations in particular are currently no longer accepting donations in kind.
Because the effort involved in sorting such donations, categorizing them according to quality and need, and then trucking them to the Ukraine is great for the organizations. It is therefore more worthwhile to buy exactly the right material closer to the border with Ukraine and then deliver it.
At best, small organizations and private initiatives still list what they need: medical emergency equipment, especially for trauma and gunshot wounds – i.e. material that is not normally lying around in a German first aid kit.
Among other things, special airtight bandages for thoracic penetrations are sought, or tourniquet ligature clamps to close arterial bleeding in the legs or arms, as well as simple prescription antibiotics and emergency painkillers such as ketamine, which in Germany fall under the Narcotics Act.
In front of a private collection point, five friends from Leipzig with Ukrainian or Kazakh roots asked for certain relief supplies. Hundreds of packages are sent here every day… packed with relief supplies for Ukraine. Up to fifty helpers sort through the many donations that people have brought in over the last few days. They are brought to Ukraine in private cars and in collective convoys.
Source: pa/dpa/dpa-ZB/Waltraud Grubitzsch
Private organizations are also collecting specific field equipment, allegedly based on Ukrainian government lists. The volunteers still want to deliver to the Ukraine, they are looking for large backpacks in camouflage colors, flashlights with a red light and light sleeping bags and sleeping mats, as well as petrol generators and power bank batteries for charging mobile devices. Even civilian mini-drones are collected and shipped.
Michael Alberg-Seberich is Managing Director of “Wider Sense GmbH”, he advises companies and foundations on social commitment and social investments. In addition to the experienced organizations, private individuals who have long-standing connections to Ukraine could also be good partners.
As an example, he cites the Ukraine Aid Lobetal, a small association that has been organizing aid for the country for 25 years. The Catholic Order of Don Bosco also has its own institutions in Ukraine.
In fact, a lot is done privately. For example, the Pilecki Institute in Berlin became a logistics center for transports to Ukraine, as WELT reported. “The drivers who take transports to Ukraine take a considerable risk,” said institute director Hanna Radziejowska. Because the routes are anything but safe.
How the material is actually supposed to get into the right hands, where exactly it will be delivered to Ukraine, and whether the trips are contributing to the chaos at the border: all of this seems to be unclear. The following applies here: monetary donations are in many cases safer than donations in kind.
on-site assistance
In the current situation, emergency aid for the war zone alone is not enough. Hundreds of thousands of refugees need to be cared for and welcomed in the coming weeks.
Refugees can also be given concrete support on site. Many of them only came with small backpacks and bags, so they don’t need large donations. However, power banks are helpful for charging mobile phones or tickets for local public transport.
In addition, many Ukrainians need a place to sleep. Although there is capacity in the municipalities throughout Germany for the emergency accommodation of refugees, many private individuals also want to take in the people who have arrived.
This is coordinated, among other things, via platforms such as www.wohnung-ukraine.de, where around 257,000 beds were registered as of Friday afternoon.
Wunderflats, a platform for temporary furnished accommodation, is also active in providing Ukrainian refugees with a place to live free of charge or at greatly reduced rents. By Wednesday alone, more than 7,200 beds had already been registered on its website.
And when the war is over, it will of course also be necessary to rebuild civil society, says consultant Alberg-Seberich. The need will remain. “Help will be needed there,” he says, “both in Ukraine and in Russia.”
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