According to UN estimates, one million people have left Ukraine after the first week of war in the country. These figures are expected to rise further, and there will be a huge need for emergency and long-term shelter.

The Cologne-based association Habitat for Humanity Germany, which has been a funding partner of the Wilo-Foundation for many years, is helping to cover this need by working closely with the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR and with other relief organisations as well as government officials at the borders of Ukraine’s western neighbours. The Wilo-Foundation is providing short-term funding for Habitat for Humanity’s emergency response in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. In addition to the distribution of emergency backpacks and transport vouchers, the organisation is preparing empty and unused buildings and flats so they can serve as shelter for refugee families.

In the past few days, air heating could be installed in tents that were set up in Issacea on the Ukrainian-Romanian border, and additional emergency shelters were created. On the initiative of Mariana Corlaci, Marketing Manager at WILO România SRL, Wilo has also distributed 400 bag packs in an effort to provide practical support for the refugees. “Many people arrive here carrying plastic bags or a small bag. With these bag packs, we want to help people quickly and pragmatically,” explains Mariana Corlaci, who will also personally visit the Habitat for Humanity site on the Romanian-Ukrainian border next week.

In addition to its support for Habitat for Humanity and SOS Children’s Villages International, the Wilo-Foundation also provides funding to the Polish foundation “Fundacja Happy Kids which is currently saving the most vulnerable victims: children from orphanages and foster care.

Children are now being taken to Poland, the evacuation operation is carried out in close collaboration with the city of Łódź and has been agreed with the department for the protection of Children’s rights of the Ministry for Social Policy in Ukraine. "The donations are used to provide all essential types of aid, including: transport, obtaining living places, which enable at least a mid-term stay, psychological, medical and legal care", explains Izabella Berger, Marketing Manager at Wilo Polska. She had been in close exchange with the Wilo-Foundation and recommended Happy Kids as a reliable Polish relief organisation.

Background:

In the past few years, the Wilo-Foundation has been supporting various projects of Habitat for Humanity around the world and has been impressed with the impact of the projects. Most recently, in 2020, the foundation provided funding for Habitat for Humanity’s Covid-19 emergency support in some international coronavirus hot spots: India, Brazil and Romania. The aim of the measures was to improve the hygiene and healthcare infrastructures in these countries. Prior to this initiative, the Wilo-Foundation also supported the organisation from 2018 to 2020 and, among other things, helped to give more than 600 people in Kenya permanent access to clean water and safe sanitation. Moreover, the Wilo-Foundation has been supporting the construction of water storage cisterns for 17 families over the past two years as part of the “Water for Lives” project that is carried out in socially disadvantaged communities in Brazil and involves the local population. In May of this year, the project will be completed with the help of volunteers, including local Wilo employees.