The promotion for Ukraine of Giro 555 is extended until March 31. Kees Zevenbergen, General Director of Cordaid, said this in good morning Netherlands on NPO 1.
Today would actually be the last collection day, the intention was to stop the collection on December 1, but given the deteriorating circumstances in Ukraine, it was decided on Monday to continue for at least another four months.
According to a Giro 555 spokesperson, there are still ‘an insane amount of donations coming in’. Five times more than usual for this kind of action. “There is a lot of positive sentiment and it is all the more necessary now,” said the spokesman.
“We all follow the news, we see that the war continues, that the bombings continue and there are still millions of people on the run. They need all the help they can get from us,” says Zevenbergen. The counter at Giro 555 now stands at 175 million euros to help Ukrainians. Detailed figures on spending are still to come, but roughly forty percent of the money in recent months went to aid to support people in their livelihoods. A large part is also for providing accommodation.
More than 50 percent of the energy network in Ukraine has been partially or completely destroyed. To fix that, help from abroad is needed. Without enough power, this winter in Ukraine is likely to be the harshest since World War II. Many people are also displaced within the country. “People need warmth, through warm blankets and heating through generators. Cordaid itself and its sister organization Caritas have currently equipped the offices in Ukraine with solar panels and generators in order to remain operational,” says the spokesperson.
All Dutch aid organizations are working very hard to do extra things in addition to the programs already deployed because of the growing demand as a result of the additional problems caused by the winter weather. A significant proportion of Ukraine’s power plants have been damaged by Russian missiles and are operating at only part of their normal capacity. There is also a water shortage. For example, the Refugee Foundation and Save the Children supply generators to hospitals.
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