Serve The City Poland, is helping people who are fleeing the horrors of the war that brutally deprived the safety of millions of people in Ukraine. We have ways to help here in Poland, and help for people fleeing Ukraine to get the help they need here in Poland. We speak PL🇵🇱, UA🇺🇦 (including RU), and EN🇬🇧. We are also working with multiple partner organizations to get much-needed supplies, food, and essential items into Ukraine, in major cities, and in places not currently on the radar of larger humanitarian organizations.
Our three “swim lanes”
Since the start of the conflict on the 24th of February, we have been serving needs in three primary ways.
- Finding comfortable housing (not in shelters) for refugees with families, or in private “donated” flats or houses.
- Coordinating transportation, essential information, and donations for refugees within Poland and to other parts of Europe.
- Delivering needed supplies into Ukraine for people remaining, including food, medicine, medical supplies, and equipment to sustain the huge numbers of people internally displaced in western Ukraine.
How to help refugees here in Poland:
You can help us in a number of ways, including:
- Purchase / delivery / preparation of basic necessities (food, drinks, hygiene products, blankets, sleeping bags, power banks, and other items depending on the needs) – see donations section below.
- If you have a car – delivering the necessary products to refugees and aid points throughout Kraków.
- Providing shelter / accommodation to those in need
- Translation from Ukrainian (or Russian) to Polish / English.
- Providing children’s programs so refugee parents can participate in workshops for job skills.
If you have questions or ideas on how to help, please contact us via ukraina@servethecity.net, send a message on Instagram, or message us on Facebook Messenger.
If you want to help us, please register ⬇️
Are you in Ukraine and coming to Poland (or another part of Europe)? – Request help!
We can help you with:
- Transportation after crossing the Polish border
- Finding accommodation both long-term and short-term accommodation in Poland, and in other nations of Europe.
- Assistance in translating/filling in the relevant documents
- Support with essential items (blankets, powerbanks, medicines, hygiene products, food, drink, clothes, etc.)
Serve The City has been operating in Krakow for many years, providing free help to anyone in need! We are safe and are focused on people, not just meeting needs. We are here to help, please let us know how we can help you and a member of our team will be in contact with you soon!
If you are a person in need of other help, please contact us via ukraina@servethecity.net, send a message on Instagram, or message us on Facebook Messenger and will try our best.
Donations needed for refugees in Poland, and people in Ukraine:
Donation list for people waiting in Ukraine to cross the border.
Donation list for refugees already in Kraków.
Donation list for people remaining in Ukraine.
Please bring all donations to our Center of Hope for the City:
Serve the City Kraków
Młodej Polski 1
30-131 Kraków
Monday to Saturday between 10:00 and 19:00.
On Sundays please message us.
Activity report (last updated 20th of April, 2022)
In the first few weeks…
- Coordinated safe housing for over 150 people.
- Received over 500 boxes of relief from Serve the City Brussels, about 1/3 is for helping people here in Kraków, the rest is being delivered to Ukraine to various places in need.
- Mobilized dozens of volunteers to assist refugees with administrative tasks, shopping, and getting essentials.
- Partnered with 11 different organizations with expertise in various areas to provide clear, efficient, and safe services.
- Trained our team in trauma response, and anti-human-trafficking methods.
Phase two…
- The need for housing became increasingly demanding. So we looked and found a 530 sq meter single house, with 10 large rooms. We are now housing 36 people. Three floors with a kitchen and one or two full bathrooms on each floor. This is done in a comfortable way, this is not a dormitory or shelter. It is a medium-term solution while people adjust and obtain the capacity to make their next steps.
- Providing groceries, essential items, utilities, and much more.
- We hope to use this facility for the long term, including transitional housing for the homeless, domestic abuse, a safe house for trafficked people, and much more.
- The monthly cost to run the facility is about 25,000 zł ($6000 USD)
- STC volunteers are also providing various workshops to build skills for the Polish job market. Such as teaching English, Polish, CV writing, and other job skills.
- Serve the City volunteers are helping refugee children so the parents can focus on needed activities.
- Counseling and trauma counselors are available to help those in need.
- Over 500 hours of volunteer time has been given in the month of April.
The need for financial donations…
- We are committed to a 12-month lease (and hopefully longer) on the current facility in Kraków. We currently have about six months’ worth of rent and utilities in our account, we need to raise enough for another six months. Amount needed: 150,000 zł ($35,000 USD).
- We have a big need to hire a full-time person to coordinate, translate, assist, and manage volunteers and projects, a general manager who can give professional attention and time to our volunteers and the people we assist. This will greatly increase our ability to reach people in need, including the refugees already in our care. Annual cost: 96,000 zł ($22,500 USD).
- Ongoing supplies are needed in Ukraine, many people, including families, are still in Ukraine in places where basic services are no longer functioning. Serve the City is collecting, buying, and delivering goods according to the requests coming from numerous contacts within Ukraine. Annual cost: 51,600 zł ($12,000 USD).
- We have the opportunity to start a refugee and community care center in Nowy Targ, this will serve a similar function to the place in Kraków (except it is not a place to sleep) to provide a place for people to work, have workshops, child care, and other ways to bring the community together for the common good. Annual cost: 62,400 zł ($14,500 USD).
Total needed: 360,000 zł ($83,720 USD)
All donations are being matched 1 for 1 up to $60,000 USD