MSC Foundation mobilises global resources to help refugees from Ukraine

MSC is engaged in multiple initiatives to help the many thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, including fundraising with donation matching. Everyone can join hands with us and double their impact.

Focus Area: Community Support

As Europe faces its greatest refugee crisis in a century, the MSC Foundation has launched the first four in a series of initiatives to help the many thousands of traumatised refugees, mostly women and children, fleeing their homes in Ukraine with only what they can carry.

The first initiative was dedicated to MSC Cruises crew members and their families from Ukraine, offering suitable accommodation in Romania and covering all related expenses and food.

The second saw MSC providing 20 forty-foot containers free of charge for the transport of 400,000 kilos of relief items (food, clothing, medicines and hygiene products) collected by donors coordinated by the Ukrainian Embassy in Spain. The containers left the Zendal Hospital Madrid on Friday the 25th of March, bound for Germany and the open corridor between central Europe and Ukraine. MSC Foundation and MSC Spain joined Renfe, DB Schenker and DB Cargo in supporting the Transfesa Logistics initiative to set up this humanitarian rail corridor to Ukraine.

At the same time, MSC also committed logistics and transportation support to the UN Refugee Agency’s regional response for refugees fleeing Ukraine. This third initiative includes providing around 40 containers that will be transported free of charge over the next 6 months.

The fourth and core initiative is a fundraising campaign to provide 250,000 emergency items for the huge number of people fleeing Ukraine as soon as they cross the border. The money raised is being doubled by MSC fund matching and used to buy 50,000 folding camp beds, 100,000 sleeping bags and 100,000 high thermal blankets. All the funds raised will go on these relief items, since the logistics and shipping are being provided out of MSC Group resources.

On the ground, the MSC Foundation is partnering with the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR to ensure swift and effective distribution of these relief items to those most in need.

Donors can make an immediate tangible difference for the exhausted refugees, with €100 providing 20 thermal blankets, €250 delivering 28 sleeping bags and €500 providing 35 camp beds. With MSC fund matching, every donor will touch twice as many lives as all we join hands to make a difference in this hour of need.

You can contribute to this effort now, clicking here to donate!

Image @UNHCR Chris Melzer.