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Aid supplies for the Ukraine have been collected in Grossenkneten and Ahlhorn for months
Grossenkneten/Ahlhorn – The truck is quickly loaded: Helpers keep lugging bags and boxes, many of them are already on the loading area. There are also larger devices, such as a compressor. All of these things are needed: They are relief supplies that the “Oldenburg hilft” association took with them from Grossenkneten last Saturday in order to be sorted and packed separately and sent on a semi-trailer truck to the Ukraine. The donations come from the community of Grossenkneten and were collected within just six weeks, reports Maria Lemke. It is the fifth time that the kneaders have collected goods for deliveries there. The current one is the second in collaboration with the association “Oldenburg helps“, says the woman from Ahlhorn, who works in the community in refugee and integration aid, among other things.
Some time ago, two people asked her whether she could support the relief effort for Ukraine, Lemke explains: They were the twin sisters Olena Svierykova and Alla Tumash, who now live with their children in a house on the outskirts of Grossenkneten. Then she did Flyers were laid out in shops and the advertising drums were drummed up via Whatsapp and Facebook. And apparently with continued success: “Oldenburg helps” only picked up a collection of material in mid-December.
The donations can still be handed in directly to the two Ukrainians (Street “Lehms” 11), who will then pre-sort the items, according to Lemke. If they are not there in person, a sign will tell them where to leave the donations. These and other items are from Oldenburg on the way to Tschernivzi (Czernowitz) in western Ukraine, Stefanie Ammer from “Oldenburg helps” continues. There they are redistributed by a source, including to the liberated areas in eastern Ukraine. And what is needed? “Dry fuel paste,” Ammer replies first. This burns without soot and high flames and is therefore particularly suitable for soldiers at the front. But beyond that, the list is long: from old stoves and headlamps to camping beds, but also first-aid kits, (opened) medicines, tools (especially chainsaws), axes and protective clothing, but also prostheses, care beds, wheelchairs and walkers. A complete list of the goods required can be found on the “Oldenburg helps” website.
From Grossenkneten, the truck continued to Ahlhorn on Saturday. Donations of a very different kind were waiting for the volunteers there – namely Candles and candle remains. These were collected by the Catholic parish of Herz-Jesu Ahlhorn, among others, who set up donation boxes at the church especially for this purpose. Olga Kinzel, who comes from the Ukraine and has lived in Ahlhorn for years, sorted the donations and packed them in boxes. Some of the candles would also be given to her, she reports. However, the deliveries did not only come from Ahlhorn and Wildeshausen, but also from some communities in the Oldenburger Münsterland. In Ukraine, small stoves are made from the candles, which provide light and on which soldiers and citizens can warm themselves, but also heat food or dry their clothes, says Kinzel. To do this, the wax is melted in the Ukraine and then poured into empty tins that have been previously lined with cardboard. Finally, these ovens are provided with a kind of wick. 250 stoves can be made from 100 kilograms of candles, she explains. you have together a burn time of 10,000 hours. Kinzel, supported by Andrea Rudel, and the Catholic community have been collecting the raw material since the end of October. In the beginning, the municipality sent the parcels on their own, but now they are working together with “Oldenburg Helps”. But there was even more help: the choir of the Catholic community had, among other things, given a benefit Advent concert in favor of Ukraine, as noted by Bernd Book of the church community.