Berlin Cosmopolitan School helps Ukrainian refugees / An act of charity

3rd March, 2022

Within a very short time, the Berlin Cosmopolitan School implemented a donation campaign for Ukrainian refugees. On Saturday afternoon, a call from Poland came in, asking to help the refugees from the Ukraine at the Polish borders in order to close the gap until large-scale fundraising campaigns by the established aid organizations reach the refugees. The time frame to be bridged is one to two weeks. During this time, agile actions are needed to ensure the basic needs of the refugees. The kindergarten of the Berlin Cosmopolitan School then started an unprecedented campaign and generated a total of four vans and two cars full of urgently needed donations, which left Berlin for Poland on Wednesday morning, 2nd March 2022.

Kinga Czyzniejewska from Poland runs a travel company. It is logistically very well networked in the region. Since the outbreak of war, however, Czyzniejewska has been selflessly helping the Ukrainian refugees. On Saturday evening, Czyzniejewska approached the kindergarten directors Katharina Ehrenfried and Matthew Carlyle via a contact with the Berlin Cosmopolitan School. Her concern: Ukrainian refugees have been arriving at the Polish-Ukrainian border for days – women, children and men over 60 years of age – who need to be taken care of. The electricity in the region failed due to the war, it is very cold and the children in particular have to be taken care of. Clothing, food, medicines, blankets, toys, sanitary products and above all electricity are needed.

As the first point of contact, Katharina Ehrenfried then initiated the donation campaign on Saturday evening, 26th February 2022. All parents of the kindergarten were contacted. Due to the constant exchange with Czyzniejewska, more and more things were added that are needed. Katharina Ehrenfried: “The willingness of the parents is enormous. Parents go out and buy battery systems, sanitary products on a large scale, pharmacies give us discounts on medicines, high-quality snow clothing are donated, toys, sleeping bags, blankets and much more. We are very grateful for so much charity.”

All items were packed in the kindergarten and labeled in Ukrainian, Polish, English and German. Many volunteers, including men and women from Ukraine, Russia, Poland, the USA, Iran and Syria, helped and in some cases contributed their own experiences of fleeing a war.

On Wednesday, March 2nd 2022, six vehicles left for Ms. Czyzniejewska in Bunzlau, Poland. Almost at the same time as the delivery from the Berlin Cosmopolitan School, 50 children from an evacuated orphanage in the Ukraine arrived in Bunzlau. They were equipped with some clothes and toys donated by the BCS kindergarten. Kinga Czyzniejewska says: “I set up four beds, but I have no children myself. I don’t have any toys or clothes for children here at the moment.” The donations from the kindergarten parents will be used for this.

The donations were taken from Bunzlau to the Ukrainian border by Polish helpers and distributed to the refugees. Part of the donations were brought to refugees in Ukraine by Ukrainian helpers.

“This is a real testament to our strength. We are one unit and very happy that we can help,” says Yvonne Wende, founder and director of the Berlin Cosmopolitan School. The Berlin Cosmopolitan School continues to collect donations for refugees from Ukraine.