Currently, at the border of Ukraine and Poland, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ refugees are being continuously pushed to the back of the queue and not able to board trains to get to safety. For All Who Love Foundation and Milkshake Festival took action and created crowdfunding to support 10 volunteers driving from the Netherlands to the border of Ukraine and Poland on Monday the 7th of March, where they picked up refugees from the queer BIPOC community. The volunteers took them to safe locations where they could get much-needed help in Berlin and Amsterdam.
The money raised through our crowdfunding directly paid for the vans and fuel used for transport, the volunteers’ expenses, and 200 care packages for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ refugees. Any proceeds that remain after the operation are being donated to BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ charities on the ground and to support the groups with getting started in their homes away from home.
VOLUNTEERS
We were overwhelmed with the kindness of volunteers who can help with aftercare and life beyond housing for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ families fleeing Ukraine. We now have volunteers that are assigned to a particular family or group to help them settle in during their first weeks in their new location or days if they have onward travel plans. Below are the three groups we search for volunteers for.
Home away from home
Provide addresses that are extremely queer-friendly for refugees to stay in for several days or weeks.
Queer companion
Be available for a couple of social visits per week and be a point of contact for personal support.
Contact buddy
To be a contact point between the families/groups and specific donations teams and organisations e.g sending information and addresses to provide donations e.g clothing needs/sizes and free meal charities and helping out with official government documents and translations.
UPDATE:
We are incredibly grateful to all volunteers for aftercare and housing for BIPOC + LGBTQIA+ refugees from Ukraine. We now have enough volunteers to support everyone that will be arriving in the Netherlands with our volunteers and we will continue to update you on their journey and our next steps for this project through our social media channels.
