Fundraising for Quaker work to support Ukrainian refugees
Page last updated: 23 April 2024
Goodbye and Thank you from FUG!
Since our first meeting in April 2022, the Funding for Ukraine Group (FUG) has met 30 times, and donated over €24,000 to 20 non-governmental groups, in 8 countries in the central European region, with amounts ranging from €200 to €1,500.
We did that at the request of Friends in response to President Putin’ s war against Ukraine, and were able to do it because of Friends’ generosity – that of Meetings, of individuals and of Quaker bodies such as the American Friends Service Committee.
On your behalf, we gave to multiple organisations each in Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary, and also to groups in Canada (the Mennonite church which works in Ukraine), Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Romania and Ukraine. Mainly the money has gone to help refugees in the countries around Ukraine, and internally displaced people in Ukraine itself, but we also helped refugee animals in Romania and conscientious objectors and draft refusers via Un Ponte Per, based in Italy, and a law firm in Kyiv.
Now our funds have dried up, so we will meet again in June to end the project. We thank everyone who supported FUG for their generosity and, of course, if more donations arrive, we will continue to distribute them. Money is definitely still needed as governments and grant donating bodies, who have done a huge amount to help refugees, for example in Poland and the Czech Republic, are now putting more restrictions on their funding and on how it can be spent. It is increasingly being directed towards getting people into work, and there is now little available for helping children and teenagers adapt to what is still a new and confusing environment.
Of course, if more donations arrive, we will continue to distribute them but if not, thank you everyone!
Donate to support Ukrainian Refugees
If you would like to support this work financially please transfer your funds to this account:
The Central European Yearly Meeting account
Fio Bank
Currency: Euro
Account no. 2601223428
IBAN: CZ73 2010 0000 0026 0122 3428
BIC/SWIFT: FIOBCZPPXXX
Please include reference: Support for Ukrainians
Thank you to our partner, Central European Yearly Meeting (of Quakers) for their help raising funds for this work.
Update on funds already distributed
Thank you to all Friends who have already contributed – below is a summary of where some of the funds have been spent from the Central European Yearly Meeting Funding for Ukraine Group (FUG):
In the first half of 2023, FUG focused particularly on support for young people, children and adolescents, and continued with this focus throughout the year.; this comprises both educational and psychological support, as will be seen in the list below of projects funded, by country. Anton Litvin, one of the organisers of a school by and for Ukrainian refugees, described the school as a project “to help Ukrainian children, who are fatherless and far from home because of our homeland. All we can do is help them here in Prague. Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry form the core of the curriculum at the school, with music, vocal, guitar and chess lessons. For physical activity and emotional release we offer gymnastics, yoga and zumba classes. We have bought telephones and computers, guitars for the children, provided them with dinners, helped the most needy financially, delivered clothes and furniture, congratulated them on their birthdays, organised a Ukrainian musical picnic.” (The photo at upper right is from this school)
Many adolescents are having to come to terms with the fact that, for the foreseeable future at least, there is no going back to Ukraine. They have lost direct contact with friends and extended family and have to try to continue their education and develop their social lives in a foreign country, often in a foreign language. Many small children learn a language quickly and are usually sheltered from the changes by being with parents and grandparents. Adolescents, for whom learning a new language can a struggle, find it harder to adjust than many younger children and sometimes feel isolated or can face bullying in school. Bearing this in mind, FUG donated 1500 EUR to Kroky Dobra (Good steps), based in Prague, which supports adolescent Ukrainian refugees. The space is small but friendly, inviting and very well-used. Their director Valeriia Shauro, herself a refugee from Crimea, with her small staff team, is working hard at trying to raise funds from the Prague city council and other bodies. We will continue to visit them, see the results of all their hard work and keep you posted (The photo at lower right is from Kroky Dobra)
The CEG Funding for Ukraine Group (FUG), thanks all Friends who, since April last year, have donated 10.148€ to help support individuals and organisations working with Ukrainian refugees in the central European area. This money came from individual Friends and Meetings in Moscow, Sweden, Norway, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, the UK and the U.S. including the American Friends Service Committee.
Projects supported by Country
Once again, many thanks for your generosity, and below are further details of where donations to FUG have been used, in alphabetical order by country:
Czech Republic
Funding for art therapy materials in group sessions for adults and children, run by a Ukrainian therapist, herself a refugee from Odesa. We have recently given her a further grant for materials, particularly as other funding sources have ceased.
SOS Ukraine (People in Need) in the Czech Republic, working with displaced people in Ukraine. as well as supporting refugees in Prague and around the Czech Republic. They write “We know that you are concerned about housing and shelter for internally displaced
persons in Ukraine and this is one of the areas we, as a big organisation, are able to concentrate on. Your second donation was in response to the bombing of the Nova Kakhovka dam which led to loss of life and to major material and environmental destruction. We were able to provide water because of generous gifts such as yours, and we continue to work in the area.” We have now given a third grant to People in Need for their work offering psychological support to displaced children in Ukraine. Two photos from this project appear lower right.
Prague Russian Anti-War Committee, set up by Russian emigres in the city, offering classes to Ukrainian children to help them better integrate into their Czech schools. The Prague Russian Anti-War Committee of emigre Russians, many of whom have been living in Prague for a number of years, have been given a premises free of charge which serves as a social centre for Ukrainian refugees. A member of FUG visited the project and and was impressed by the range of activities and the friendly atmosphere.
Kroky Dobra (Good steps), based in Prague, which supports adolescent Ukrainian refugees.
Estonia
Friends in Tallinn are supporting the Tallinn Refugee Centre which is receiving refugees as they arrive from Ukraine each day. Over 20,000 refugees have already arrived here. Funds have been used to buy clothing and food and medical support such as Covid tests alongside paying for the cost of accommodation for refugees. During autumn 2023 we have given them two additional grants, now for educational work.
Georgia
Friends in Tbilisi have been raising funds to buy humanitarian aid to send to Ukraine via the Ukrainian Embassy in Georgia; items have included nappies/diapers, bandages, equipment to set up blood transfusions for injured people etc. Over £1,200 has been sent to Friends in Georgia to support their work distributing medical materials to Ukrainian refugees in Georgia and also to provide insulin to diabetic people in Ukraine.
In autumn 2023 we gave a grant for a 6-month English Language zoom teaching project for Ukrainian students, run from Georgia.
Hungary
Hungarian Reformed Church Aid and Next Step, Hungary, both offering practical support and information services. Friends in the Budapest worship group are working with Hungarian Reformed Church Aid to provide practical, emotional and spiritual support to refugees arriving in Budapest from Ukraine.
MigAid in Hungary providing, among other things, housing for refugees in Budapest and Gyor.
NestingPlay, working with refugee children, including Ukrainian Roma, in Hungary.
Italy
We donated 500€ to Un Ponte Per based in Milan which is supporting people from Ukraine and Russia who oppose the war. More information in English about Un Ponte Per
Poland
Friends in Poland, in particular Zbigniew Kazmierczak, have been supporting some Ukrainian Quakers who have fled from Kyiv to live in Eastern Poland. Friends in Białystok have also set up a fund to buy clothing, medicines, toys & games, school materials, food and books for Ukrainian children aged 0-12. Read more here
Friends in Warsaw have been supporting the a university which provides Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to Ukrainian refugees.
SWPS University, Warsaw, offering cognitive and behavioural therapy, and other therapies to Ukrainian adults and children
Warsaw Institute for the Deaf, assisting deaf refugees
Patchwork, supporting children with disabilites and their families Projects include setting up a sewing and a cosmetics and manicure workshop to help some longterm refugees earn money and become more independent .
Romania
At the November 2022 meeting of the CEG Funding for Ukraine Group (FUG), after long discussion, we decided to give to the Romanian League in defence of animals, ROLDA, a charity caring for pets caught up in the war in Ukraine. As well as the distress suffered by the animals themselves, we know from refugees how important pets are to the mental health of traumatised people, both those who have left for other countries and for their families and friends living through a cold Ukrainian winter.
Ukraine
Mennonite Family Centre who work with vulnerable elderly people, including in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine.
As always, thanks to all our donors, and keep up the good work!
Contact information
If you know of an organisation in central Europe that needs funding in order to help refugees from the war in Ukraine, or you would like to know more about FUG, please contact Michael Eccles.
