Help for Ukrainians

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Update, August 7, 2023,

Polish-Ukrainian Origins Foundation.

Together with Alex Brzhezytsky, genealogist from Ukraine, who was sending us updates at the beginning of the war from his home city of Zhytomyr we founded the Polish-Ukrainian Origins Foundation https://puorigins.org/ in early 2023.

We didn’t want to duplicate the activities of other aid organizations that have many years of experience in their specific forms of aid. Our area expertise is genealogy (history) and tours, which we have been doing for more than a dozen years. That’s why we came to the conclusion that the best thing we could do now would be to offer historical tours for young Ukrainians in Poland.

Read more about the foundation and our motivations here: https://puorigins.org/about/

The first project we want to organize is the History, Healing, and Hope Tour https://puorigins.org/tour/ .

Official, verified charities in Poland and Ukraine 

Below we gathered a list of official, verified organisations which are helping in different ways refugees or people who stayed in Ukraine.

The official Polish government website  https://pomagamukrainie.gov.pl/ with verified charities. The organisations are focused on providing food, accommodation and in general taking care of refugees.  The website is in Polish and in Ukrainian. We picked a few charities which have English versions and accept donations by credit/debit cards:

Other ways to help:

  • Aid collection centers and warehouses in the world where you can donate goods: https://ua-aid-centers.com/ . Lists of aid needed most: https://ua-aid-centers.com/lists 
  • Send a package – Polish Red Cross Organization collects food (canned food, long-term food), cosmetics (e.g. shower gels, shampoos, soaps, toothbrushes, toothpaste, diapers for children) and some medical equipment (e.g. sterile gases, sterile compresses, ampoules of physiological saline, disinfectants, disposable gloves, bandages). They also collect new blankets and sleeping bags.

They DO NOT collect clothes.

Become a volunteer

If you want to visit Poland to help:

  • Polish Red Cross cooperates with volunteers who don’t speak Polish/Ukrainian/Russian. You can bring the items you want to donate or you can donate your time and work. Just contact any office in the town you plan to visit: https://pck.pl/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/adresy-dla-zbiorek-darow-09.03.pdf
  • PAH (Polska Akcja Humanitarna) cooperates with volunteers from abroad. The only limitation is that you declare to be their volunteer for at least 2 weeks.
  • If you can come to Przemyśl, the city near the Ukrainian border, contact the regional coordination office first. They will advise where to go and how to help. Phone number for English speaking volunteers: +48 16 675 20 91. This is region where the most people cross the border.

If you do speak Polish at least on the communicative level you can join many other organizations. Each bigger city has it’s own volunteer organization here are just a few of them:

Warsaw: https://ochotnicy.waw.pl/oferta/2003

Przemyśl: https://przemysl.pl/64135/pomagamy-ukrainie.html

Organization „Ocalenie” coordinates volunteer’s help all over Poland: https://ocalenie.org.pl/ukraina-pomoc . Here you can also volunteer as translator, medical support, law advisors, psychology support (Ukrainian and/or Russian is needed), as well as helping with the transportation to Ukraine and from the Polish-Ukrainian border.

 

(For refugees) After crossing the Polish border

Poland is helping Ukrainian war refugees. If you know someone who is escaping Ukraine through Poland – pass this information.

Every Ukrainian citizen, who is crossing the Ukrainian-Polish border will be allowed to come. The limitations can be on the Ukrainian side, because men between 18 and 60 years old are not allowed to leave the country and are drafted.

If you don’t have anyone (friends/family) on the Polish side who could help you with the accommodation, visit the reception point. They will provide temporary accommodation, medical help, warm food, and some clothes if necessary. You will also receive any information you need.

Also local Polish people gather every possible thing that may be useful for the refugees. Often these are the local initiatives. Besides clothes, food or cosmetics there are also transportation services. Ask at the reception point how to get to your destination.

Every Ukrainian refugee has a right to free medical help. They can visit hospitals or regular health clinics. Just remember – all the NATIONAL (run by the Polish government) medical aid is free. There is still private medical help, but this one may be paid one. However some of the private clinics (Damian, LuxMed) also offer free doctor appointments as well.

In bigger cities in Poland there are special points dedicated to the refugees (mostly near the biggest train or bus stations). They can get some food but also receive any required information and help with accommodation.

Poland also organised help with translation, psychological help, law help.

There are huge groups on Facebook, where you can ask questions or ask for help (private initiatives): https://www.facebook.com/groups/683793819641997

List of reception points can be found here (in Ukrainian): https://www.gov.pl/web/ua 

Website with the most important information gathered (in Ukrainian): https://ukraina.grupagranica.pl/