German police officer Ben Meyer has become a volunteer for an orphanage near Kyiv. He regularly collects aid and delivers it to the orphanage himself.
His story is told by the Hamburger Abendblatt.
Meyer is a senior commissioner from Hamburg. His story of helping Ukrainian children began with one photo — a police officer saw a picture of children hiding in a basement under shelling and decided to act.
Meyer initially planned to evacuate the children to Germany, but bureaucratic hurdles prevented this from happening. However, on his first trip, he managed to get over 100 refugees, three dogs and two cats to safety in Germany.
Hamburger Abendblatt
During one of his trips, he came across another orphanage. Meyer contacted its director Tetyana and learned that the children needed diapers, clothes, food, hygiene products, cocoa for the babies, and tea for the caregivers.
Meyer began collecting donations from friends, colleagues, and local businesspeople, and also established cooperation with a local charitable foundation. As soon as he collected enough humanitarian aid, Meyer set off for Ukraine again.
Since the start of the full-scale war, he has already traveled to Ukraine 30 times on his own. He always goes alone.
To protect “his” children at the shelter, Meyer has been fundraising to buy an above-ground bunker. Made of concrete and reinforced shipping containers, it can hold about 30 babies, children, and their caregivers, protecting them from drone attacks, debris, and flying debris. At first, there was enough room for everyone, but now this above-ground shelter has become too small.
When Meyer started his program to help an orphanage near Kyiv, it had 27 children. Now there are 80, and the number continues to grow. Another bunker needs €70 000.
Hamburger Abendblatt
Meyer also used the money he raised to buy a generator that provides at least a few hours of light and heat on days when there is no electricity at all. It cost almost €16 800, with another €2 500 going towards fuel to run it.
The teachers regularly send Meyer photos: smiling children at play, shots from the bomb shelter during an air raid, babies in cradles brought from Hamburg.
“I became their intermediary in Germany and I do it with joy,” Meyer says.
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