Piles of boxes and bags for Ukraine: ‘I’ll never get this in my car’

Nappies, toilet paper, paracetamol, toothpaste and lots of sanitary towels. The East European Student Association EESA and B&R Beurs boardrooms and the corridor in between are full of boxes and shopping bags for Ukraine. Dozens of students, employees and local residents are bringing items to P-building. The supplies will be taken to Poland by lorry on Thursday.

It was Sandra Garstka’s idea to collect supplies for the victims of the war in Ukraine. The Polish student of International Business and Business Economics (IBEB) came up with the idea last week. “I spoke with my aunt after an exam. She’d heard from friends that they were collecting items for refugees. I wanted to do that here too. I appealed to students via Instagram to donate supplies.”

Looking at the number of boxes in P-building, it’s clear that the appeal worked. “The response has been absolutely incredible; I’m so proud of my co-EUR students!” said Sandra. “So many people are helping. The original idea was to take everything in my car, but as you can see the entire office and behind me are now both completely full. The logistics have become much more complex.”

That’s why, as well as working with EESA, she is now also working with students from Delft, who have together formed Students for Ukraine. “We’re investigating together how we can transport all the supplies. In any event they’ll be going directly to Poland, as the government there is in contact with the government in Ukraine and can transport everything over the border. We can’t enter Ukraine anymore, so it will have to go via Poland.”

Escalation

Jacob Wise and Maaike Postma are not students but live in the neighbourhood and found out about the collection campaign via Instagram. “This was the closest collection point we could find.” They took a full box of nappies, baby wipes, toothpaste, soap and shampoo. “We have no direct connections with Ukraine, but it’s on the edge of Europe and things could easily escalate to something much bigger.”

Students can still bring their donations until Thursday, when everything will be taken to Poland. “We’ll probably just keep on doing this, as it’s still very much needed,” stated Sandra. It’s possible that the collection point will be moved to the tent on Erasmus Plaza. Sandra will keep you updated via the Instagram account.