Support Martina & Martin in helping Ukraine!
Cameron Tomkins-Bergh, alum of our ACCELERATE program, brought us in contact with his close friends Martina Kojic & Martin Reiter, who run an initiative to help Ukrainians: they arrange buses to pick up refugees from within Ukraine and its borders and bring them to safety across Europe.
They helped more than 3.000 people within 14 days mostly with their own money, and are scaling very fast, with their goal to bring 100.000 to safety within the next weeks.
Martina: “I’m from Croatia, I grew up in a war-battered country, and promised myself to never look the other way if I can help innocent people who suffer from a war.”
Cameron: “Martin and Martina are passionate people who manage these things very well. I can fully vouch for them and I support the initiative financially. They are exploring ways to scale up the operation and also to find and create temporary housing for the millions of refugees expected to arrive.”
We asked Martin and Martina, why should people support their initiative, if there are already established NGOs helping refugees? Martin: “The numbers are immense, so we will need many concurrent initiatives. We are very fast, and we have a team in Lviv which is rare and very helpful to women and kids arriving after very difficult travels within the Ukraine. We are able to bring people directly to places where they can stay, register, integrate. We are able to take load off the main transportation paths whilst making the journey so much more humane to people. You need to realize: these are people like you and me, who had a normal life just two weeks ago. They often fled in a hurry with only a plastic bag with few things.”
What do Martina & Martin need?
Funding: They paid GP 100k from their own resources but need more funding to sustain their operation and to scale. They have created a UK charity holding and are awaiting their registration, (UK authority is overwhelmed and has a backlog). Funds can be wired already into a GP, EUR and USD account that are separate from their for-profit company. Funds will be transferred to the non-profit once it is officially registered.
Fundraising expert: Martin and Martina are entrepreneurs and know how to get things done, but charity and fundraising is new to them. They look for people who have experience in fundraising and can help them raise the money to be able to sustain their work and scale.
Door opening: They are looking for people that can help open doors, e.g. introduction to the Head of EU Caritas, CEO of Lufthansa, other large Foundations and NGOs that could help in coordinating the distribution. Since they are so busy with the work on the ground, they ask that if you have a good connection for them, that you first inquire with your connection if they are interested in working with Mademoiselle Martina, and if yes, then make the introduction.
Accommodation: People that are willing to provide access to their properties.
For more info and donations, see: www.mademoisellemartina.org
