There is a horribly quickly increasing number of needs hence we created the Kartuzy Refugee Support Center.
We started collecting gifts for Ukrainian refugees on Monday and after 1 hour we had to ask the town council for an extra pavilion – people were that generous. By the next day 100% gifts were distributed to refugee families.
Within the first month, we distributed 8.1 tons of material support: food, medicines, clothes, hygiene products.
As of 31st March 2022, we support 1274 refugees on a regular basis. This number grows daily. This means huge costs and material help required to maintain the humanitarian aid. Every day 100 families arrive to our center only for food.
We constantly collect gifts, which, after segregation, are handed over to the refugees in the Center, as well as directly to Ukraine.
We have already organized 6 humanitarian transports to Ukraine. On the way back, our buses transported over 300 refugees to their accommodation.
We organize the work of over 60 volunteers from our Refugee Support Center, we also cooperate with volunteers of three high schools.
We organize emergency assistance points, providing care and meeting the most urgent needs. We run a contact point for accommodation – so far we have managed to find shelter for 200 refugees. We provide comprehensive psychological, legal and formal assistance. On March 29, we launched Polish language classes for the first two groups of refugees – 24 people. More groups for the next 36 people are just starting on 7th April.
At the same time, we carry out many other activities necessary in a situation in which we all find ourselves, in the face of war and a wave of migration that has not been seen for several decades.
But we cannot do everything without money.
Without financial aid, our Refugee Support Center can be maintained for max. 2-3 weeks and the support we give to current and future refugees will not be continued.
The Refugee Support Center, which is currently our main activity, will not last longer than 2-3 weeks without your support. Your regular support is essential to continue our mission.
Our main expenses are emergency food purchases – when the gifts from local community run out, and we cannot leave incoming people without support, and employment of people to provide support in our Center, mainly people from Ukraine due to their knowledge of the language, which includes two refugee women. The third key expense are humanitarian convoys we send directly to Ukraine, we need it to buy medical stuff which we put on the buses sent to Ukraine to collect refugees so that they go both ways full.
So we are asking you to support us. All the expenditures we do in cooperation with Ukrainian organizations to make sure that we do EXACTLY what is needed. You can check our credibility on our website www.otwartekaszuby.pl and fanpage www.facebook.com/OtwarteKaszuby, our Center new fanpage www.facebook.com/CWUKartuzy, or call our center +48 695 127 816 (hopefully someone English speaking will be there). You can also google our name to check media coverage in Polish or check the interview with us on Montreal CityNews here: