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A queue forms even before the »Moabit helps« donation point opens.
Up to 300 refugees come here every day, mainly for food and clothing, currently almost exclusively Ukrainians.
The helpers are already facing problems in the morning.
Christiane Beckmann, Managing Director »Moabit helps«
»No more pasta?
Is how it is.
I went shopping yesterday.
I can't go shopping for that much money again, we don't have that.
The donations are declining, companies are no longer donating in this way.
We're going into the third month now, everything's letting up.
But people are still coming out of the war, people are still hungry and people are still short of money.
In fact, you want to give as much as possible.
But we have to give as little as possible to as many as possible, and that is very difficult.«
Many of those seeking help here have organized private accommodation in Berlin and registered with the authorities - so they are entitled to social benefits.
But the money is often not enough.
Aid for refugees from the Ukraine is currently based on the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act, and is thus well below Hartz IV. It is only to be raised in June.
Private organizations like »Moabit helps« step in, as they did in 2015.
Christiane Beckmann, Managing Director »Moabit helps«
»We definitely feel that the state has left us alone because we just can't handle it financially.
It's just hard.
Also from our work performance - it's just not possible.
I just had to cut our hours because we've been working 11-14 hours a day for the past two months now.
We were all really walking on our gums, it's no longer possible!"
Problems that the association Ukraine-Hilfe Berlin is also familiar with.
Andriy Ilin and his team send donated relief supplies directly to Ukraine.
But Ilin can no longer fill up several large trucks per week like at the beginning of the war.
After about four weeks, the situation changed.
Andriy Ilin, Ukraine-Hilfe Berlin
»Fewer helpers came, fewer donations came.
Especially helpers from the German fellow citizens.
I don't think it was too much of a challenge, it's actually the case that at some point you get the feeling: I've done enough.
The war doesn't end now.
Others have to get involved.«
Donations are still arriving at the church in Berlin-Friedenau, where the Ukraine Aid is headquartered, but more irregularly than before.
»Grocery, chocolate, muesli, preserves, great!«
In the church, three associations are working on sorting and packing the donations - 300 tons of relief supplies, mainly food, hygiene products and medicines, have already been sent to Ukraine.
Andriy Ilin and his helpers organize the transport.
The Ukrainian-born lawyer has to answer the same questions every time: where is the need, which inquiries are still current, and which papers are required as an accompanying letter?
Andriy Ilin, Ukraine Aid Berlin
»I just spoke to people on the front line.
Some things can only be clarified with them.«
Reporter
"What are they reporting?"
Andriy Ilin, Ukraine Aid Berlin
»It works!
It's all ok."
But even the greatest expedient optimism cannot hide the fact that the pews are slowly emptying.
A few weeks ago things looked very different.
Christiane Beckmann, Managing Director »Moabit helps«
»An angel.
You're welcome!
We always need someone..."
Back to »Moabit helps«.
17-year-old Lisa has just volunteered.
She fled Ukraine herself and brings important language skills with her – she speaks Ukrainian, German, English and Russian.
Lisa, from Kiev
»I fled and I have this pain in my heart, in my soul.
And I see my goal here as helping people because I speak four languages.«
Lisa has been living with a host family in Berlin for a month.
According to aid organizations, the fact that she now wants to support her compatriots is a typical development – refugees often make up for the slowly declining willingness to help in the host country with their own commitment.
