Fairfield helps Ukraine

Hello!

My name is Emily Hollo Kilgannon-Neumann and I grew up in Fairfield, CT. I attended Warde High School and then moved to Germany in 2015 at the end of my German studies at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA.

 

War seems to be something inevitable. Whether or not that is true, I am not in the position to determine its inevitability. However, we are in the position to determine about how we go about our lives; we have the ability to decide whether or not we want to do good in this world.

And when the war in February 2022 began, I knew I had to do something. I donated to different NGOs, but kept feeling as though I needed to do more. Germany is not far from Ukraine...how many hours?

I took to Google Maps to determine the distance: 609 miles from my tiny little village to Kraków, Poland. "For Americans, 609 miles is barely even a drive," I thought.

That thought then snowballed and became action.

 

I informed myself about the areas where people needed help the most. I joined chat groups for people looking to be picked up and taken into safety. I began communicated with like-minded individuals just like myself who simply wanted to do something.

 

On Friday, March 4th, I set off with a car packed with donations (thanks to my lovely colleagues, friends, and family) and drove the four hours from Hagen im Bremischen to Berlin. There, I met up with 24 others in a supermarket parking lot. After some discussing, we headed off into the night, destination: Kraków.

My co-pilot (a German-American-Serbian guy who I met two hours prior) and I drove overnight with the others to Poland. We met some guys from Belgium at a random rest stop in the early Saturday morning. They had been driving 14 hours just to deliver supplies and take people fleeing the war back into safety. We saw cars from France, England, the Netherlands, all heading to Kraków, Warschau or Medyka, the Polish-Ukranian border.

 

We arrived Saturday morning, set up headquarters in a café somewhere in Kraków and divvied out the orders for the day. A few black coffees and we were ready. After allocating a drop-off point for supplies within the city and at the border, my team and I picked up a family of 11 from the train station in Kraków. We helped them settle into their accommodation overnight and talked to them. They were from Kyiv and were accompanied by their husbands up until the border. There, they said their farewells and travelled 10 hours on foot, through the cold, with their luggage, with 6 children and a grandma. Once over the border, they travelled by train to Kraków and hoped we would be there to pick them up.

 

On Sunday morning, we got back in the car and took them to Hamburg where they had friends waiting to take them in.

 

I think about them every day. We write occasionally. They hope to cook me borscht one day. Maybe we will meet for coffee in Hamburg soon.

 

With their story in mind, I hope to be able to help others. The news does a good job about showing photos and displaying statistics. However, the silent journeys of private persons using their vacation days, weekends, and paychecks to make the 24-hour round-trip trek to Poland are not aired on TV. Yet, these tiny endeavours are the backbone of the operation to aid those fleeing the war.

 

"Never doubt that one person can make a difference." - Ingrid Newkirk

 

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With your help, I would like to be able to continue making journeys to Poland to help those fleeing.

This includes bringing much needed supplies, dispersing those wherever needed, and being able to bring people back to Germany to be housed in safety.

 

These trips are not cheap to fund. Things to be considered beforehand include:

 

+ collecting donations (going with an empty car is a no-go). Donations do not just include standard items like food, warm socks and shampoo, but medical supplies as well.

 

+ accommodation during the trip - not just for the drivers, but for the refugees, as well

 

+ gas - without this, we're not going anywhere!

 

+ food - one cannot assume that those fleeing a warzone have money

 

+ finding accommodation once these people have arrived in Germany

 

+ other costs that may occur such as medical attention needed for those fleeing, clothes or hygiene items, emergencies, toll costs on the highway

 

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I appreciate wholeheartedly that you have taken the time to read this long message about my goals and hopes.

Even a small amount of money or even kind words, makes a huge difference. I am overwhelmed by how many ordinary people have rallied together for this cause. Imagine just how much we can do together.

 

 

The next trip is planned for April 1st.