Disaster Response Ukraine Project #55618

Help Ukrainian refugees

by Fondazione La Stampa Specchio dei tempi onlus

Project Report | Aug 24, 2022
What we have done and what we will do

By Angelo Conti | Vice President Operations

War broke out on February 24. The next day Specchio opens a subscription and begins to help Ukraine. After five months the numbers recount a story of important interventions: 200.000 meals, 50.000 shopping packages, three refugee villages, in Mostyska, Lviv and Chernivtsi, 330 tons of food, over 100 trips with trucks, buses and mini buses. With the support of 6.793 donors it was possible to raise 1.73 million euros.

The work of the Foundation already in March allows us to have a precise plan. There are those who want to get out of Ukraine, escape from the war, and Specchio dei tempi organizes buses that recover families on the Polish and Romanian borders. On this way over 500 refugees thus manage to arrive in Italy. But there are also those who want to stay, those who don’t want to leave their Country. The Foundation intercepts this need and is the first in Italy to build a village in Chernivtsi, within the Ukrainian borders. A thousand square meters of tensile structures, a canteen, a play area, and a zone for the distribution of shoes and clothes.

Then the Foundation transfers two mobile clinics from Turin, with the Specchiobus, to deal with health emergencies. Buys a field kitchen, the van that houses it, and a nine-seater minibus for the displacement of refugees. Every day it supplies the village with food and basic necessities. Then it looks at the North, and Specchio dei tempi expands its boundaries of intervention. First in Mostyska, here Specchio supplies the village with equipment, electricity generators and heat totems for the coming winter when temperatures will touch -15 degrees. Then he chooses to intervene in Lviv, activating a support program for the provision of meals and for the improving of reception facilities.

At the same time Specchio also supports expatriate Ukrainians who have reached Italy in the last few months. The first 1.000 families to arrive in Piedmont received, in agreement with the Consulate of Ukraine in Turin, 500 euros in cash to cover the first expenses. The “Forza Mamme Ucraine” project is also activated, to encourage the integration of single women in Turin, who arrived in the country with their children. The initiative includes italian courses, entertainment for children, psychological counseling, trips to learn more about the area and sports activities in the parks. The project involved 210 mothers and 387 children.

Now, six months later the beginning of the war, there are also those who want to return. Precisely for this reason, Specchio deri tempi, in collaboration with the Embassy of Ukraine in Rome, started a busy return home program for refugees at the beginning of June. During the first two months two coaches per week left from Rome and Turin. Up to now 1.000 Ukrainians have been repatriated. The return program is set to continue in the autumn.

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Mar 14, 2022
Between Romania and Poland: supplies, shelter and Specchio Village

By Federico De Andrea | Donor Relations Manager

Mar 7, 2022
What we are doing for Ukrainian refugees

By Federico De Andrea | Donor Relations Manager

A kid on his way to Italy

The first emergency

Hundreds of thousands of refugees crossing the Polish and Hungarian borders. At the very beginning of this crisis, we contacted voluntary associations, local authorities and journalists from local newspapers in those countries to get a good understanding: it was clear that, while there were no problems on the Hungarian border (the Hungarian reception system was efficient and met all the needs of those arriving), the situation on the two main routes between Ukraine and Poland was quite different. On Monday, February 28, the first shuttles, financed and supported by Specchio dei tempi, were already on their way to these areas. On Wednesday night, March 2, the first refugees arrived in Italy, reaching first Brescia and then Turin.

A 'shuttle chain' for humanitarian aid

Since then, the shuttle service has been running on a daily basis: 9-seater and 54-seater buses have already left and will be frequently used from now onwards. On their way to the border, the buses also carry basic necessities: foodstuffs with a long shelf life, personal hygiene products, medicines and medical supplies (syringes, bandages, plasters, disinfectants)

Welcoming Ukrainian refugees in Turin

Meanwhile, in Turin, the institutional Coordination Committee of the Piedmont Region has entrusted Specchio dei tempi with the task of assisting the families of arriving refugees, offering them immediate economic support. Concerning this point, in close collaboration with the Ukrainian Consulate and its volunteers, an emergency phone number has been activated.

What we'll do this week

Our programs include intensified connections with the borders to transport refugees to Italy, but also to send medical suppliers and food to those who have decided to stay in Ukrain: some want to fight, some are unable to move for health reasons, some feel simply attached to their homeland.

We will continue to stay close to the Ukrainian people, thanks to you and those who will support us to be even more incisive and bring comfort to desperate people.

Supermarkets reconverted in shelters for refugees

Refugees arriving in Italy

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