Town twinning association starts relief action “Friends help friends” – Trakai and twin towns are to be supported directly
RHEINE/TRAKAI. “Friends help friends” – this is the motto under which the town twinning association of the town of Rheine is launching a call for donations to help people in Ukraine.
Specifically, the town twinning association wants to support the Lithuanian twin town Trakai. “Our Lithuanian friends maintain two twinning arrangements with the cities of Luzk and Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine. These cities – both located about 400 kilometers west of Kiev – are to be supported with aid transports. These transports will also be organized jointly with the Polish city of Koszalin.
“Here we are convinced that we can help in a very targeted and effective way,” says Reiner Wellmann, chairman of the Rheine Town Twinning Association. Together with the twin towns of Borne, Bernburg and Leiria, the people of Rheine want to organize international assistance in the twinning family.
Both the mayor and the twinning association have made contact with the city administration in Trakai in order to make possible as concrete assistance as possible. According to information from the city of Trakai, what is currently needed above all are generators, thermal blankets, sleeping bags, durable food (metal cans), computer equipment (including printers) and first aid kits. The aid from Rheine is intended to enable the twin city of Trakai to purchase these relief supplies and transport them to Ukraine as quickly as possible.
“We have already sent a larger shipment to our twin cities,” said Evelina Sochiene, an employee of the Trakai mayor, yesterday. “From Luzk we received a call for help today that urgent medicines are needed,” Sochiene continued. The donations from Rheine could also be used for this. Since last Thursday, 50 children who arrived from Ukraine without parents have been cared for in Trakai. “This is putting an enormous demand on us here right now around the clock. We are grateful for any kind of help,” Evelina Sochiene continued.
Donations are requested to the municipal account No. IBAN DE 65 4035 0005 0000 0642 53 at Stadtsparkasse Rheine. Keyword: “Donation campaign Ukraine”.
Donation receipts will be issued upon request.
The twinning association will report on the aid transports and the use of the donations in coordination with the Trakai city administration.