More than 40 metric tons of relief supplies are on their way to Ukraine

As it did last fall, Hochschule Offenburg once again launched a fundraising campaign to support young people and their families in Ukraine. The ongoing Russian war of aggression continues to result in regularly bombed student dormitories, lecture halls, and administrative buildings, as well as the destruction of laboratory and IT equipment, according to reports from members of Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University, a partner university of Hochschule Offenburg. Private residences of students and faculty are also increasingly being hit. As a result, numerous members of Hochschule Offenburg, as well as institutions, organizations, and companies from the region, once again wanted to help those affected and responded to the call for donations.

Last Thursday, in addition to countless moving boxes filled with well-preserved (winter) clothing, bedding, household goods, and children’s toys, several pallets of monitors, laptops, printers, network switches, and various other IT equipment were waiting to be loaded. In addition, there were numerous donated school bags and backpacks filled with school supplies, which will be distributed to Ukrainian students; the art and craft supplies included are intended to fulfill some of the modest Christmas wishes of orphans. To ensure people had access to hot meals, two electric cooking pots and a tilting frying pan from a commercial kitchen, as well as urgently needed food supplies worth more than 12,000 euros and tableware, were also included in the shipment. In addition, several hectares of protective netting from vineyards and orchards were once again collected; this netting is used in Ukraine as protection against drone attacks. The collected relief supplies were further supplemented by dozens of used bicycles, medical supplies, and monetary donations, all of which contributed significantly to the campaign’s success. One of the most valuable donations—a large-capacity generator—will be used in a Ukrainian hospital in the future.

To transport the in-kind donations to Ukraine, Hochschule Offenburg once again turned to the nonprofit organization Space-Eye. Space-Eye has been organizing humanitarian aid transports to Ukraine since the start of the war—on average, two trucks per week.  Together with Space-Eye volunteers, the donations from Hochschule Offenburg were loaded on Thursday and initially transported to Eastern Bavaria. There, all relief supplies will be sorted, packed, and weighed once more, then transferred to a larger truck, which will deliver them to a central warehouse in Ukraine before Christmas, from where they will be distributed throughout the country. Due to the rapidly changing security situation, a decision on whether donations can actually be delivered as far as Zaporizhzhia this time will have to be made at short notice.

“Our relationship with our Ukrainian partner university in Zaporizhzhia is growing ever stronger. It is unimaginable to us under what conditions teaching, research, and daily life are taking place there, and with what determination our colleagues are resisting the attacks. With our collection, we hope to make these people’s lives just a little bit warmer and brighter. In conversations, we are repeatedly told how much strength it gives them to know that they have not been forgotten, even after nearly five years of war,” explained Rector Prof. Dr. Stephan Trahasch.