6/17 to 6/29 Recap
6/17 LEGAL GUARDIAN CASE
Two 17 yr Ukrainians were seeking opportunities to attend university in Vienna. David, VM4U Accommodations Program Manager, and Eileen, VM4U University Education Program Manager, organized dormitory accommodations, German lessons, and assistance with enrollment. However, in order for the two minors to stay in Austria without a parent, the two minors required ‘Legal Guardians’. David and Eileen organized the legal details. The mothers of the two minors traveled to Vienna, and during a meeting with Austria Officials, assigned Katharina and Adam as the legal guardians of their children. The two 17 yr olds are now able to pursue their academic careers in Austria while their parents live in Ukraine.
6/17 MEETING WITH WARHELP
The VM4U Executive Team, Elli and Adam, and VM4U Refugee Support Team, David, Maryna, Gebhard, Eileen, Roxy, and Irina, had a meeting with the Warhelp organization representatives, Sabine and Daniel Maria. Warhelp is an Austrian led organization which, during the initial refugee surge, used a website to match refugees with ~600 host families here in Vienna. Warhelp is no longer operational an is unable to support their host families due to insufficient manpower. VM4U offered Warhelp the VM4U Refugee Support Teams services including employment, University education, psychological support, and hotline, however, VM4U was unable to assist with accommodations support (transitioning refugees from host families to sustainable accommodations) until after VM4U completes this task for the VM4U host families.
Warhelp: http://www.warhelp.eu
6/21 ACCOMMODATIONS CASE
A request for short term accommodation was received by VM4U for a refugee family traveling by car from Ukraine to Italy. Luisa, VM4U host family, provided accommodation from 6/21 to 6/24, during which time the family decided to stay in Austria and entered into the Austrian government accommodations system through BBU.
6/22 ÖSTERREICH HILFT UKRAINE SUPPLY PROJECT
Elske, VM4U Project Manager, organized a 500 euro donation from the ‘Daughters of the American Revolution’ organization, dar.org, which she turned into hygiene and baby supplies in amazon boxes for Österreich Hilft Ukraine, verein-ohu.com. ÖHU supplies food, clothes, hygiene, baby, and medicine for ~1000 refugee families here in Vienna.
6/22 MEETING WITH KOGL ORPHANAGE – KOGL ORPHANAGE SUPPLY PROJECT
Svetlana, VM4U Case Officer, made her second onsite visit to the Kogl Orphanage, a follow up to her visit on 6/13. Svetlana met with orphanage management, caregivers, children, and local government officials including the mayor, for the purpose of identifying the supply needs of the orphanage and seeking support from the local government. Unfortunately, no additional support from the local government was obtained. In addition to previously identified needs for fresh fruits and vegetables, winter clothes, shoes, ukr/rus books, medicine, and tick vaccinations, further needs were identified which include German lessons for caregivers, sports equipment, IT support, and the organization of ‘day trips’ for the children. Filipp, VM4U Project Manager, is working to answer these supply needs.
6/22 to 6/23 VAN MISSION
A cargo van team, David and Adam, transported medical supplies (approximately 27,000 would dressings and 216,000 adhesive bandages) from Vienna to Lviv on 6/22, with operational support provided by Julia, VM4U Director of Operations. The team overnighted outside Lviv at a friend’s family’s home and returned to Vienna on 6/23. The van was generously provided by the First Hand First Aid organization, firstaid-firsthand.de, and the medical supplies were organized by a private individual, Palvo, with customs declaration support from the YOUkraine organization youkraine.at.
6/24 PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT TEAM BRIEFING OF VM4U and THE FEEL GOOD STORE MANAGEMENT
Roxy, Alexandra, and Inga, VM4U Psychological Support Team, briefed VM4U and The Feel Good Store thefeelgoodstore.at management on refugee and volunteer related issues. The Feel Good Store proposed an in-person workshop for their volunteers by the Psychological Support Team.
6/28 MEETING WITH CARE-RING
The VM4U Executive Team, Elli and Adam, met with Natalie and Magdalena, Care-Ring organization. The Care-Ring organization is an Austrian led home care (nursing support) organization located in the Vienna 9th District. The Care-Ring has organized accommodations in Vienna for 159 refugees during the first weeks of the war. Similar to the meeting outcome with Warhelp on 6/17, VM4U offered Warhelp the VM4U Refugee Support Teams services including employment, university education, psychological support, and hotline, but VM4U is unable to provide accommodations support at this time.
Care-Ring: http://www.care-ring.or.at
6/28 VAN MISSION
1 cargo van team, Nathan and Adam, transported furniture from a donor, Sarah and Jonny, in Vienna to a refugee family in Reichenau an der Rax, Austria. The van was generously provided by the First Aid First Hand organization, firstaid-firsthand.de, with support from Markus and Hannah; diesel was generously sponsored by Sarah and Jonny. Operational support was provided Julia, VM4U Director of Operations, and organizational assistance from Alina.
6/29 MEETING WITH ANCOP
Adam, VM4U Executive Director, and Vins, VM4U Director of Business, Finance, and Fundraising, met with the ‘Answering the Cry of the Poor’ (ANCOP) Leadership Team. The objective of the meeting was to fundraise money for VM4U and VM4U partners. Three facility tours were provided to the ANCOP Team. First, an in-person tour of the Österreich Hilft Ukraine (ÖHU) (verein-ohu.com) facility was provided by Olga, ÖHU, and showed ÖHU’s impressively large and quite intensive aid distribution center operation. Second, a virtual tour of the Domivka (domivka.co) facility was provided by Elli, VM4U Deputy Executive Director, which showed Domivka’s refugee support operation including an ongoing employment workshop and German course (coincidentally, Elli and Gebhard, VM4U Employment Program Manager, were participating in an employment workshop at Domivka at the this time). Last, a virtual tour of the YOUkraine (youkraine.at) facility was provided by Vira, YOUkraine, which showed YOUkraine’s medical procurement, logistics, and warehouse operations. The ANCOP Team was impressed by the recently procured ambulances being in the LH138 parking lot at that time. Adam explained the ‘Team Vienna’ operations to ANCOP and how the Vienna based organizations work together. The meeting was organized in less than 2 hours and apologetically, the meeting organizers were not able to include all the VM4U partner organizations.
ANCOP: http://cfcancop.org/ancop-global/
6/29 PARTICIPATION IN EMPLOYMENT WORKSHOP AT DOMIVKA
Gebhard, VM4U Employment Program Manager, and Elli, VM4U Deputy Executive Director, continue to support the Domivka organization by participating in a employment workshop, offered weekly to refugees on Wednesdays at Domivka’s facility in the 2nd district. A session with one person lasts approximately 1 hour and involves help with CV, applications, and advisement.