Dear Friends,
Today I write to you to thank you once more for putting your trust in me and voting for me as the new President of IWCT for the coming two years. For those of you who haven’t met me yet or with whom I didn’t have the chance to talk yet: I am Sophie Voswinckel, I was born in Mönchengladbach, Germany, and before coming to Estonia with my husband and my 11-year-old daughter in the summer of 2020, we lived for nearly ten years in the United States – in Massachusetts and Texas.
When I started the term on February 16, little did we all know that we would find ourselves in a Europe with a war in Ukraine one week later. By now, nearly 3.4 million Ukrainians have fled their country, mostly women and children, and up to 20.000 refugees have already arrived here in Estonia. The readiness to help is enormous in Estonian society and other European countries. Quite some members of our Club have approached the board, and of course, the question of how to help was discussed amongst the board and in conversations at the luncheon on International Women’s Day.
As a Social and Charity Club that focuses its charity work on helping women and children in Estonia, the board decided to donate 500 Euro to the Estonian Refugee Council “Eesti Pagulasabi” to help our host country face the crisis. The funds came from the IWCT membership account, as all the funds generated by the International Christmas Bazaar have already been allocated. The board also feels that the Club has to keep on being the reliable source for our charities that count on us and get under even more pressure due to rising energy and food prices. Yet to counter the feeling of helplessness regarding the unfolding refugee crisis and the implied human adverse fates that come with the war in Ukraine, we put together the following information for you regarding where one can donate funds or volunteer in person in a meaningful way:
– The Refugee Council runs a Welcome House in Niine 2, and this is their Facebook page where they announce daily what is needed and where you can find a sign-up sheet for volunteering:
https://www.facebook.com/
– Ukrainaheaks is a campaign named “For Ukraine!” and is organized by three Estonian NGOs, the Estonian Refugee Council, Mondo, and the Ukrainian Cultural Centre, to help internally displaced people in Ukraine: https://www.
–Estonian Red Cross volunteer form: https://docs.google.com/
– Tallinn City webpage with the list of how to help with donations: https://www.
– Tallinn District Facebook pages where they keep you up on the news and especially what your district needs at the moment:
https://www.facebook.com/
https://www.facebook.com/
https://www.facebook.com/
https://www.facebook.com/
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https://www.facebook.com/
I hope to see you all soon at one or more of the Club’s upcoming events in Spring and Summer – to be together, to exchange our thoughts and stories, to disperse our worries, and to enjoy each other’s company.
With warm wishes to all of you,
Sophie