Initiated by Clairfield Partner Albert Schander and monitored by our senior advisor Alexander Krylov, the first truck under the auspices of the Johanniter Auslandshilfe delivered urgently needed relief goods to the western Ukrainian province of Khmelnitskyi, Alexander’s homeland. The emergency supply was directly requested by Sergiy Gamaliy, the head of the Military Administration in the Khmelnytskyi region, and included drinking water, baby food, and diapers. His letter read, “Because of its central location, Khmelnytskyi has seen more than 300,000 refugees flow through over the past three weeks. In just the first two weeks of the war, more than two million refugees—around 4% of Ukraine’s population—fled westward from the encroaching Russian forces. A lot of them are with children, that’s why your aid is very important and useful.”

From initial request to final distribution to local groups, this mission took just a couple of days thanks to the perfectly organized execution by The Johanniter Auslandshilfe (foreign support department) in Berlin.

Albert is no stranger to conflict zones and humanitarian relief from his long career in the German military as colonel of the German paratroopers. He is also an active part of the Johanniter organization, serving as chair of the board of trustees of two hospitals. “Both responsibilities, besides my day-to-day work at Clairfield, helped in mobilizing the relief effort to get essential goods into Ukraine as quickly as possible. The situation is extremely distressing. I am heartened by the financial and volunteer help from my colleagues in the financial community.”

The Johanniter welcomes donations at the following link: Help for Ukraine