Companies work together for Ukraine

On Thursday 3 March, at least two trucks full of relief goods left the Verstraete.team depot in Roeselare for Poland, near the border with Ukraine. At the request of the Ardooise ICT company Brighteye, various companies from the region have put their best foot forward in recent days. “People help people.”

The Ardooise ICT company Brighteye has teams in both Russia and the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Since the outbreak of the war, the company has rented a hostel in Okszow, just across the border in Poland. A number of relatives of Brighteye's colleagues are currently staying there. But according to CEO Stijn Roggeman, it was already a surprise there at the end of last week.

The company contacted its network to initiate a coordinated fundraising campaign. Tents, beds, sheets, food, diapers,... over the past few days everything has been collected in the depot of the Roeselare construction and wood company Verstraete.team in the Zwaaikomstraat.

“We were asked if we could help and we immediately responded. We would like to lend a hand with this first aid question. In this way we hope to inspire others to also help with the current situation. People help people,” says Francis Verstraete of the construction and timber company.

Numerous companies

The fundraising campaign has been a great success over the past few days. Thanks to the network of both the Ardooise and the Roeselare company, many other companies and institutions jumped into the breach, including Mulder, Lotus Bakeries, Parkhotel, Mydibel, Filantex, Motena, the hospital of Ypres, Pittem, Kortrijk, Van Remoortel, Latexco , Ontex, Vandemoortel, Poco Loco.

But private individuals also felt addressed, such as Jan Hamers. “From the Dushi day care center, the Hamers family and home nursing Anamcara, we were able to collect, among other things, growth milk, pampers, travel cots, disinfectants and sanitary napkins. I thought it was important that we could do something for the people affected by the war. Suppose there was a war here, we would also like to be helped.”

On Thursday, at least two full trucks will leave from the construction and timber company Verstraete.team towards the border of Poland and Ukraine. The Ukrainian wife of one of Brighteye's colleagues will help coordinate things once the trucks get there.