Stand with Ukraine - Warsaw - Food Trails - Milan Urban Food Policy Pact

Stand with Ukraine - Warsaw

The request for support from our partner-city Warsaw, which is facing the emergency of war refugees.

A place of arrival and a point of departure. Warsaw‘s central station has in recent weeks become one of the main reception and sorting hubs for the hundreds of thousands of people who are fleeing the war in Ukraine. Refugees. Most of them women and children. Their hope is to be able to return to Ukraine, but in the meantime they wish find solidarity and hospitality.

Our partner-city Warsaw is facing an unprecedented wave of migration and is doing its best to secure food and essential services to help refugees. However, this requires a huge and rapid mobilization of resources that they are unable to provide only by themselves. For this reason we’re sharing their request for support with all the information you need to act now.

The city is already working to address the future food needs of refugees, in conjunction with several organizations and stakeholders working on the ground.

The letter from our partner city Warsaw

Warsaw, 23.03.2022

Dear Food Trails partners,

I am writing to you from Warsaw where we are very actively engaged to help the refugees coming to our city since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

As of today, almost one month after the outbreak of the war, 2,1 million persons crossed the Polish border, 515 000 of them reached Warsaw and at least 280 000 of them decided to stay, accounting for an increase of almost 16% of our population. Their number grows from day to day.

We have already implemented many concrete solutions to support our neighbors:
We have organized information centers where free hygienic packages, food and beverages are distributed, we have established an impressive network of volunteers (over 10 000 applications), we opened 33 city-led shelters with medical and psychological assistance, and the public transportation is free for Ukrainian refugees. In addition we have organized supply collections which we sent and are still sending directly to Ukrainian cities. As of today, 10 000 children have already started school at different levels (from preschool to high school).
Following the adoption of the special act on assistance for refugees from Ukraine, the national identification number enabling access to the healthcare and social welfare services is assigned to refugees. The registration task falls to the municipality that mobilizes additional resources to proceed the huge number of applications flowing in. Also, together with the well-known Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP) the city has organized a humanitarian center in a 3000 square meters tent operating as a 24 hours transit points for refugees.

Nevertheless, this require a huge and rapid mobilization of resources, and we are not able to provide all the help needed only by ourselves.

We thought that if you have the possibility and the wish to help us facing this unprecedented crisis for our city in this century, we will share with you all the necessary information to do so.

As of today, we need foldable beds and single-use sheets the most in order to equip refugee shelters in Warsaw. We have also a list of our most urgent needs to welcome our neighbors – please find it attached.
We have established new bank accounts* dedicated to donations for the Ukrainian cities and refugees that come to our city. We have the list of supplies these cities needs and with the donation we buy these products and send them by train. For now we are able to reach Lviv, Kyiv and even Kharkiv, we are also in touch with Odessa.
We are also open to receive every material help we are happy to pass to Ukrainian cities. If you are interested, we can send you the list of supplies needed.
Relocation support: part of our Ukrainian guests are willing to move elsewhere, it is already happening. Nevertheless any offer enlarging the destinations list and facilitating the access to other countries and cities is very welcome (logistic support).