Volunteering: from life-saving donations to life-changing moments

“This year, every Zurich Gruppe Deutschland (Zurich) employee gets three paid volunteer days to help a good cause,” says Anke, as she explains how she and her two colleagues embarked on their journey together. “So, I thought, ‘what better cause is there right now than travelling to Poland to help the people of Ukraine?’”

The journey they made at the end of April was the latest trip organized by Ukraine Help Sieglar, a small charity started by Anke’s husband Winfried. As a construction site manager, Winfried knows lots of people in their local town of Sieglar, near Cologne, and could see the appetite for a small charity where the donations go directly to the people of Ukraine.

“We collect medical supplies, food and clothes and drive them to the Poland/Ukraine border so Sauveteurs Sans Frontières (SSF) can distribute them throughout Ukraine,” describes Anke, whose Zurich career stretches back to 1985. “But we need people to help make the deliveries. That’s why I asked my colleagues Marc and Andreas if they would be keen to use their volunteer days to help.”

It turns out they were. “At first, I wondered, ‘should I do it, is it safe?’” confides Marc, who joined Zurich in 2008. “After all, we would be driving close to the Ukraine border. But in the end, I said: ‘this is something where I would be physically helping people in need – I have to do it!’”

Andreas, who has been at Zurich since 1995, felt the same. “I was a little bit scared at first, but then I thought, ‘I’m 58, healthy, my children are grown up and I have a happy life: if I can’t do this now, then when can I?’”

Journey to the border

So, at midnight on April 27, the three set off from Germany, together with two other vans, on a 14-hour journey to the refugee camp in Medyka in Poland.

“When we got there, we were met by Ayala from SSF who gratefully took the supplies from us,” recalls Marc. “Then she showed us around the refugee camp where they provide first aid to the women, children and elderly arriving from Ukraine.”

“The commitment, dedication and energy of the medical staff there is overwhelming,” remembers Anke. “There are so many people who need their help – we’re just happy we could provide some medical supplies to support their efforts.”

After providing passport, driving license and car ownership documents, Anke, Marc and Andreas were able to see if they could help anyone with a lift to Germany.

“If we could give anyone a ride on our way back, we were happy to do so,” shares Andreas. “That’s when we met Oksana. She was with her son, and her niece who had her own son with her. They had just arrived the day before.”

Road to a new life

Oksana explained she had a daughter too, but they became separated when the bombs started dropping in Kharkiv where they lived. “Oksana’s daughter left immediately with her friend who had relatives in Germany, while Oksana stayed and moved to Lviv with the rest of the family,” says Marc. “But when the war came there too, Oksana decided they should all follow to Germany.”

The town that Oksana’s daughter had headed to was called Brühl. “When we heard this, a light went on in all of us,” says Anke. “Brühl is very close to where we live; it’s just 20 km south of Cologne. We decided to take them with us and try to reunite the family”.

They set-off first thing the next morning, and the journey gave them the chance to get to know Oksana and her family a little. “It’s impossible to even begin to imagine the horrors they have been through,” says Andreas. “They are heroes. Talking to them underlined just how important it was to bring this family back together.”

After driving all day, the group arrived in Brühl around midnight on April 29. “When we got there, the family ran into each other’s arms,” says Marc. “Everyone was crying tears of joy! It was an unbelievably emotional experience that no-one will forget.”

Before heading off, Anke, Marc and Andreas had a final goodbye gift for them. “We gave them an envelope each with a little money in it,” reveals Andreas. “They could use it however they liked – no strings attached. It was just a little something, so they know there are good people in the world.”

When all is said and done…

“There are so many memorable parts to this story,” says Anke. “From seeing everyone’s faces when we arrived with the supplies, to meeting Oksana and her family, to witnessing their emotional family reunion. It’s something that will live with us all forever.”

“Zurich does a great thing by giving us these volunteer days,” concludes Marc. “Because of them, we’ve been able to share this wonderful experience together, and see a completely different side to people we work with every day. I’d urge anyone to take them and do something good with them.”

Andreas summed up everyone’s sentiment at the end when he said. “I’ve never been so proud. A huge thank you to Zurich for giving us these volunteer days and to Anke and her husband for the opportunity to support Ukraine Help Sieglar.”