Austrian aid convoy drives all night to deliver supplies to Ukraine Sebastian Adami
O
n the evening of March 2, I set out with a team of Rotaract members and colleagues from six nations to deliver relief supplies to contacts waiting for us near the border of Poland and Ukraine. Our five-vehicle convoy travelled through the night to get there. But we were heartened by the response we saw all around us, people flashing their lights or giving us other signs of encouragement as they saw our relief supply convoy marked by flags that identified what we were doing. This effort came about through the wonderful network we enjoy in Rotary. Like many, I watched with horror the images coming from Ukraine following the Russian invasion of the country on Feb 24. These images included people who had lost everything, their belongings, their homes, and some even the lives of loved ones. The more I witnessed people having to seek refuge in subways or shelters and the flood of displaced people seeking safety in other countries, I knew I had to do
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something. I contacted friends of mine in the Rotaract Club of Klagenfurt-Wörthersee, and we were all united in our desire to help. The convoy heads across Poland toward the Ukraine border Within a short time, I set up a fundraising
campaign with a longtime club member Ivana Tadic and our club president Anna Bäuchler with the active support of our members. In one weekend, we collected many donations from family, friends, and work colleagues including canned food, water bottles, sleeping bags, generators and
medical supplies. The question became how to deliver these items. As part of our campaign, I had reached out to a former co-worker, Alessia Sasina, who was born in Kyiv. She had also been raising donations. But it was not until we both talked to Max Aichlseder that we hit
