UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency, has donated last week hygiene kits and other relief items to the Municipality of Lublin and to Homo Faber, a local NGO assisting with protection services and distribution of relief items across the city.
The items supplied include towels, bedding sheets, hygiene products, and baby kits, that will be delivered to collective shelters and other facilities to the benefit of more than one thousand persons hosted in the city of Lublin.
“The support provided by Polish authorities, jointly with civil society organizations, is impressive”, said Marco Procaccini, UNHCR Head of Office in Lublin. “Refugees from Ukraine hosted in Lublin feel welcomed and have gained a sense of inclusion, many of them proactively participating in the social, cultural and economic life of the city.”
The Municipality of Lublin and its ‘Centre for Helping Families’ (MOPR for its acronym in Polish), had been providing vital assistance to refugee families from Ukraine since the onset of the conflict. Local authorities along with civil society organizations and volunteers had joined forces to ensure that the most vulnerable refugees arriving in the city have access to a dignified accommodation and a safe environment, while providing assistance to cases with specific needs in different collective centres operating in in the city.
“Despite the lack of experience in working with people who suffered as a result of hostilities, representatives of social services made huge effort to cope with such a big challenge. We managed to do it!”– said Katarzyna Fus, Head of MOPR in Lublin.
Civil society organization Homo Faber has also played a major role in supporting humanitarian efforts, utilizing their expertise in the local context to provide continuous assistance hosting families in collective shelters and outside them. “We care about systemic, multi-threaded and constant support for both refugees and the local community by building cross-sector partnerships.” – said Anna Dąbrowska, President of Homo Faber Association.
Their staff members and volunteers are currently providing assistance and protection services in an area hosting more than 16.000 refugees from Ukraine, including the city of Lublin and its surroundings.
UNHCR is grateful to local municipalities and the government of Poland for the continuous assistance they are providing to refugees from Ukraine.
As of 25 July, there are over 1,2 million refugees from Ukraine registered in Poland with a PESEL number.
