Berlin Odessa Express

"We help where the need is". Under this motto, BerlinOdessaExpress has been organizing relief supplies for Ukraine since March 2022. We deliver medicines, technology, hygiene articles, food, and more with our local partners, humanitarian organizations, and governmental structures. In the meantime, a tried and tested supply chain has developed. The goods are redistributed in the country within a few days to hospitals, social institutions, associations, and church congregations. Among them are NGOs like Winds of Change, which mainly support Rom*nja and other marginalized people in rural areas, several associations and aid, and state aid structures in the city and region of Odessa. We cooperate with Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste and the aid network for Holocaust survivors on the German side.

We supply projects in the Odesa region and other parts of the country, for example, the embattled areas in Mykolayiv and Kherson further east. Through our partner organizations, we reach people who urgently need help: refugee women and families with children, older people, and people with physical and mental disabilities.

Until the summer of 2022, we drove ourselves in minibusses to the border in the Romanian Danube Delta and handed over the goods to our partners. In the beginning, all goods were scarce, so we concentrated on medicines, bandages, rescue supplies, food, and hygiene products. On the way back, we took war refugees and arranged for their reception or safe onward journey in Germany.

Later, the number of refugees decreased sharply, so we changed our concept: together with Ukraine-Hilfe Lobetal, which has been organizing aid deliveries since the 1990s, we now transport by truck, which is cheaper and more ecological. So we can also deliver hospital beds and heavy technology, such as generators, which are urgently needed after the targeted Russian attacks on the infrastructure.

In addition to this material support, it is, above all, the personal connection and sympathy that gives strength and confidence in this terrible war for both our partners and us.
We work purely voluntarily. Monetary donations enable us to continue the aid transports and support Ukraine’s people.

About WE AID: WE AID supports people starting initiatives without the paper hustle in Germany. So instead of months starting an all new NGO – much too long to react to a natural or manmade disaster – people can help really quick.

The idea: By the end of the day, MORE people start stepping in for good causes than usually would - knowing they would have months of paper hustle before they can even start – without the unique service.