Local Rotary clubs raise nearly $20K for Ukrainian refugees

Apr. 18—"Service above self."

That's the motto of Rotary International, and one that's shaped local Rotary clubs' response to the humanitarian crisis developing in Eastern Europe.

Three Keene Rotary organizations have worked together to collect nearly $20,000 to help support Ukrainian refugees in Europe, using club and municipal relationships to guide where those funds are heading, according to a Keene Rotary Club news release.

Most of those funds are being sent to Keene's partner city of Einbeck, Germany.

Rotary International is a humanitarian service organization that aims, among other things, to promote cultural understanding, community service and peace.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, nearly 5 million people have fled Ukraine, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

About 1,000 of those people are now in Einbeck, according to the Keene Rotary Club release.

Keene and Einbeck have had a relationship since the two formalized an official partner-city agreement in 2002. Since then, residents from each city — including choral groups, sports teams and city officials — have visited the other as part of the program.

Within just a couple of weeks, the Keene Elm City Rotary Club committed to sending $10,300 to Einbeck, said Yves Gakunde, president of the organization. Those funds will primarily help Ukrainian children living in Einbeck to get medicine, books, and temporary schooling, Gakunde said.

When club members first expressed interest in helping Ukraine, the organization planned to donate to the Rotary International relief fund with $5,000 from its own treasury. When the board announced the donation to its members, some people wanted to make their own contributions, and the club collected another $5,300, according to Gakunde.

Gakunde was grateful to the club's members — which total about 60 people — for their generosity, he said Friday.

"It was good to see everyone was willing to donate as much as they could to support those in need."

Then, Gakunde and Paul Vincent, a member of the Keene Rotary Club who helped spearhead his club's efforts to send funds to Ukraine, discussed ways to get money directly to places that needed it, instead of through the relief fund, Gakunde said. Through their connections in Europe, they were aware of refugees in Germany and Poland, Gakunde said, which is how they arrived at the idea of sending money to Einbeck.

Vincent has served on Keene's Partner City Committee and has visited Einbeck several times, and he said that as he watched the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis unfold, he knew there would likely be an impact on Einbeck.

While the Keene Elm City Rotary club sends money to the city itself, the Keene Rotary Club is donating $5,500 — $4,500 from the board and the rest from members — to the Einbeck-Northeim Rotary Club, which is providing four apartments for families, Vincent said. As of last week, the Einbeck-Northeim chapter had already settled two families into apartments and is prepared to assist two more, Vincent said.

The money is being sent in batches, Gakunde and Vincent said.

Beyond Germany, Ukrainian refugees in Poland will get help from students in the Monadnock Region.

The Keene High School Rotary Interact Club is sending support through a regional Rotarian relief initiative to aid its partner Rotary club in Poland, according to the Keene Rotary Club release.

So far, the local clubs' efforts have raised more than $19,300, according to the release.

Molly Bolan can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436 or mbolan@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @BolanMolly.