Vienna Mission for Ukraine

5/17 to 5/22 Recap

Published by Vienna Mission for Ukraine on

5/19 Meeting with the Feel Good Store, www.feelgoodstore.at

The VM4U Executive Team, Adam and and Elli, made a visit to the Feel Good Store near the Oper (opera house), where they met with met with the Feel Good Store Team, Sarah, Barbara, Tasha, and Olga. The Feel Good Store is a shopping store for high quality men’s, women’s, and children’s clothes which are cost-free to Ukrainians. Shoppers make an appointment by calling +43 677 643 113 53. During their appointment, shoppers are permitted to try on clothes and take home a couple items per shopper. There are shopping racks, shopping baskets, a child’s play area, seating area, coffee and snacks – basically the personalised service you expect from a high-end Austrian retailer. No staff are paid and all materials are donated from locals stores and people like you! Simply stated, the Feel Good Store was much more than a clothing store and VM4U looks forward to working more closely with the Feel Good Store team to help Ukrainians here in Vienna.

5/19 Van Missions

1 passenger van team, Nathan, assisted a Ukrainian family move to their own apartment from a VM4U host family accommodation. The Ukrainian family found employment and an apartment in Steiermark, Austria (about 2 hrs southwest of Vienna by car). Nathan transported this family and their household to Steiermark and assisted with the moving. The van was generously donated by Nathan.

1 passenger van team, Michael, Adam, and Sofia (YOUkraine), locally transported a medical supply shipment from Vienna International Airport to LH138 for the YOUkraine group. The van was generously donated by Michael.

5/19 Refugee Welfare Case

A case officer, Svetlana, responded to a Ukrainian with a timely medical issue requiring a quick response. On 5/18, the refugee took an ambulance to AKH but was unsuccessful at accessing the hospital and went home without receiving medical attention. The matter is complicated by a 13 yr old child, the refugee having limited eng/de, having no money, and having no minutes on her cell. On 5/19, Dr. Liliana made an appointment with a hospital, Adam transported this person to the hospital, where Svetlana met us at the hospital and served as a translator, advocate, and friend. Adam was not permitted entry to the hospital because a PCR test is required for non-patients but fortunately Svetlana had a PCR test. The person was discharged from the hospital but has a medical condition that will require monitoring. VM4U will continue to be a phone call away, should the family need VM4U’s help in the future.

5/20 to 5/21 Van Mission

YOUkraine volunteers loading medical equipment, mostly neonatal equipment, into the First Aid First Hand van for delivery to Lviv by VM4U drivers. Impressive multi-organizational collaboration, not a single paid volunteer.

A cargo van team, Cliff and Björn, transported medical equipment, mostly neonatal care equipment, from Vienna to Lviv, Ukraine. The medical equipment were procured by the YOUkraine organization based on needs driven request from Ukrainian counterparts, the van was generously donated by the First Aid First Hand organization, and delivered by VM4U drivers. Donations to VM4U covered the cost of the delivery.

5/21 YOUkraine Fundraising Event

YOUkraine Fundraising Event at the Prater. An enormous success thanks to the hard work of a lot of people begining with Lina (YOUkraine). This event helped save a lot of lives!

Adam visited the YOUkraine fundraing event at the Prater. Ukrainian volunteers donated their time to make (wonderful) Ukrainian food, drinks, and crafts to sell to fundraise money. The event was heavily attended by thousands of people and was an enormous success. The money raised, easily over €10,000, will be used to buy an Ambulance (which start around €10k) and life saving medical supplies. Lena, from the YOUkraine organization, did an amazing job organizing the event! I personally ate enough food to sponsor one first aid kit and can still taste the salo.