Graphic: Jan Novotny
In the heart of Europe, democracy is under attack and an entire country is invaded. The Schöpflin Foundation establishes an emergency fund endowed with € 100,000 to provide humanitarian relief and to support journalists in their work. With this aid, the Foundation is participating in the initiative www.alliance4ukraine.org, a platform that brings together resources for support and organizations
Grants from two program areas
Specifically, the following four organizations and initiatives from the two program areas Migration & Integration and Media & Society will be supported with a total of € 100,000 as of now: SEEBRÜCKE, which provides emergency aid at the borders between Ukraine and Poland, Romania and Hungary; www.unterkunft-ukraine.de, which arranges accommodation for refugees from Ukraine - 173,000 beds are already on offer; the media NGO "n-ost", which provides networking opportunities for journalists in and around Ukraine; and the "Press Freedom Center" project of Reporters Without Borders, which offers support for journalists in Ukraine. The grants in the field of journalism are awarded by the Schöpflin Foundation in cooperation with PUBLIX, our House for Journalism & the Public, which is currently being established in Berlin.
With the Emergency Relief Fund, we want to do our part to increase the willingness to provide help for refugees, but also to strengthen free press, which today is more important than ever.
Active support from our operational institutions
In addition, the operational facilities of the Schöpflin Foundation actively provide support in Lörrach. A family from Ukraine has already moved into a guest apartment at the Foundation's headquarters in Lörrach-Brombach. The Schöpflin Foundation team also collects donations in kind on an as-needed and targeted basis and, in response to a specific request, has set up the "Lörrach Clothing Room" (contact: kleiderraum.loerrachhilft@gmail.com) on site - a free store where refugee families can obtain clothing, shoes and toys, among other things. This offer was set up for the acute needs of refugees from Ukraine, but is of course also open to people from other countries of origin! The team is currently in the process of coordinating its activities with the numerous initiatives of committed people from civil society, the city of Lörrach, local companies and church actors.
