Aid to Eastern Europe: tireless commitment to Ukraine

Created: 05/24/2022, 20:00

Chairwoman Maria Reitinger reported on the current situation at the meeting of the Eastern Europe Aid Association.

© Hans Lippert

Since the beginning of the war, the Eastern European Aid has organized aid transports to the Ukraine.

Another truck will start on Friday with urgently needed donations.

Wolfratshausen – Volunteers from the Eastern European Aid (OEH) in the districts of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Starnberg and Munich drove three large trucks with relief supplies to the Ukraine in May.

Another truck will start next Friday. Andrij Gromjak, the cooperation partner in Wolfratshausen's twin town of Brody, who also works on a voluntary basis, distributes the donations directly to the needy population on site.

Aid to Eastern Europe: tireless commitment to Ukraine

"There is a lack of canned food, baby food, diapers, bandages, medication, incontinence pads for adults, but also sleeping bags and sleeping pads as well as military clothing and helmets for the men who are defending their country," says Maria Reitinger.

Since the start of the war on February 24, the chairwoman of the Eastern European Aid and her board of directors have done almost nothing other than organize the transports.

In addition, the Schäftlarner takes care of the accommodation of refugees in her community.

Private individual provides storage for donations

At the most recent club meeting in the Wolfratshauser Löwenbräu, Reitinger reported on the current situation.

After the donations had initially piled up in their garage and driveway and in the meantime the local fire brigade had made a room available, the OEH has now been provided with a large warehouse in Ebenhausen at Wolfratshauser Straße 52 by a private individual.

Relief supplies can be brought there.

What is currently most urgently needed can be found on the association's website at www.osteuropa-hilfe.de.

In the past few weeks, three pallets with 2,000 first-aid packages and medical equipment from a practice liquidation have arrived, said Reitinger.

She also reported a cash donation of 1500 euros from Wolfratshausen's other sister city Iruma in Japan.

The children's aid campaign "Sternstunden" gave the association 10,000 euros.

Some of these have already been bought baby food and diapers.

Maria Reitinger: "The willingness to donate is overwhelming."

Veterinarian organizes operation for dog hit in Lviv

The Eastern Europe Aid also takes care of the many animals in western Ukraine that were injured by the Russian war of aggression or lost their homes or owners.

Veterinarian Melanie Dopfer had already traveled to Brody with her father, club treasurer Frank Dopfer, in April.

The two were on the road for 15 hours, not counting the long waiting time at the Polish-Ukrainian border.

They handed over dog and cat food, some of which had been donated by German companies, to an animal shelter in Brody.

Melanie Dopfer organized an operation for three dogs hit by cars in Lemberg and took care of some cats in the shelter herself.

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The willingness to donate is overwhelming.

Chairwoman Maria Reitinger

In April, Lviv was not yet a war zone.

“We walked through a busy city.

The next day I read that the Russians had shelled Lemberg and that there were civilian casualties," reported Dopfer.

The people in Brody are also in constant fear.

Life there must go on (“People have to work and earn money”), but the sirens wail almost every day and the residents have to flee quickly to the air raid shelter.

Also read: 25,980 eggs for Ukraine: Geretsried farmer collects food for children

Board member Viktoria Sidorowa, who is currently in Brody and in Schäftlarn's friendship community Pidkamin, let her club colleagues know by email: "The pictures in the media show only a fraction of the destruction."

Volunteers complain about the bureaucracy

The ten volunteers who attended the meeting then talked about looking after the refugees they had taken in.

They complained about the bureaucracy for landlords and helpers.

In particular, the application for Hartz IV funds, which are to be paid out by the job centers from June 1st, is associated with many obstacles.

The employees in the responsible offices are hopelessly overburdened.

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