Pryvit, hello!
I am Jürgen, an Austrian journalist based in Bratislava. For the past three months, I have been engaging in collecting and shipping humanitarian support for people in Ukraine. It all started with the urge to do something to help my friends – Freefilmers, a collective of filmmakers, who managed to escape from Mariupol. Some of them have found a relatively safe place to stay in Zaporizhia, where they are now helping other refugees and people along and beyond the frontline.

Starting as a volunteer at the Slovak-Ukrainian border, I met people who helped me to get humanitarian aid across the border. Since March 2022, we already managed to collect and ship six van-loads of aid based on a grassroots-supply chain, enabling us to send our aid directly where it’s needed. My friends cooperate with a number of initiatives taking care of particularly vulnerable communities (LGBTIQ, Roma, orphans, etc.), who also have special material needs.

Therefore, we try to provide them the things they need. And we’d be glad if you could help us with that. For our next load, you can donate the following items:

• Second hand laptops and tablets with 4-8 GB operative memory – also for teens from the occupied territories who learn to work in graphic editors (request from several cities)
• Bluetooth speaker more than 15 watt (for working with dancers outside and for street performances – request from a grassroots
  youth club in Zaporizhzhia)
• Oil paints, canvas, acryllic paints, brushes for oil paints
• Second hand photo cameras, with some professional settings as many teens want to study photography (so something more serious than point&shoot cameras)
• Caps (regular caps for summer heat. Now normal quality caps in second hand shops are only available for 400 hrn or more, which is ridiculously expensive for refugees)
• Batteries (second-hand or new) from electric cars (guys use them as very efficient powerbanks)
• Water purifiers (pills)
• Tactical medical backpacks (second hand or new)
• Tactical backpacks (medium and large size, second hand or new)
• Sturdy backpacks more than 30 L (second hand or new)
• Binoculars (second hand or new)
• Active headphones
• Powerful blender (for volunteer kitchens) – motor more than 1000 Watt (new or second hand)

You can donate any time in Bratislava, Košice, Vyšné Nemecké or during Fest Anča in Žilina (just drop me a message). We take care of all necessary logistical steps ourselves, including transport to and shipping within Ukraine, providing frequent documentation about our activities.

Thanks for your solidarity!

Jürgen Rendl
& Freefilmers

Contact
e-mail: suburbandrifter@gmail.com
mobile: +421 919 246 645 (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal)
fb: https://www.facebook.com/jueang/

Freefilmers is a collective of filmmakers and artists, originally from Mariupol, Ukraine. For the past five years, they have been working with topics of urban transformations in East Ukraine and its multicultural vibes. They have also researched the working-class creativity and industrial past and present of post-socialist cities. Currently the most important sequence on their timeline is not about movies, but about building a network of solidarity and support for Ukrainians who are suffering from and fighting against Russian imperialist aggression.

web: https://help-freefilmers.network/
fb: https://www.facebook.com/Tvorch.Skhid
ig: https://www.instagram.com/freefilmers.ua/