(from: SHZ von Ralf Seiler, 25. März 2022, Quelle: https://www.shz.de/36830777 ©2022 - translated by G+L)
Großharrie | Max Krumpeter from Hanover has started a special aid project for people from and in Ukraine. Staplerservice Kühl from Großharrie spontaneously joined in and donated a van.
On the road for the fourth time
One week after the war began, the former service manager of a large construction machinery manufacturer from Lübeck, who now lives in Hanover, set off for the Ukraine for the first time after a spontaneously privately organised aid campaign. Krumpeter not only had relief supplies in his luggage, but also a van that was donated to Ukraine as an ambulance and goods transporter. In the meantime, the Hanoverian, who is married to a Ukrainian woman, has already set off for the fourth time.
Wife Natalia comes from central Ukraine
Two vans and a truck have already been brought to Ukraine, including an armoured cash-in-transit van that he bought himself and which now serves as a patient transport vehicle. Wife Natalia is from central Ukraine. There are many connections through the family, a long-standing circle of friends and links to official organisations in Ukraine. "This is how our aid arrives directly on the ground," said Max Krumpeter at the meeting in Großharrie. Here, the next vehicle, a Mercedes Sprinter, and 330 kilos of relief supplies were waiting for the active helper. The van was donated by Staplerservice Kühl from Großharrie. The donations, ranging from nappies to tinned food or sleeping bags, rucksacks, toys and rubber boots, had been collected over the past few days by staff and friends from the surrounding area. "I was really touched when I asked in a business conversation whether Kühl might still have a transporter from his fleet for sale and owner Claus Kühl didn't have to think for half a minute and said: Yes, I have, you can take it," Krumpeter told us when picking up the transporter and the donations. Two vehicles had already been donated in addition to the purchased cash-in-transit van, and now the fourth vehicle has come from Großharrie.
Association founded to help
However, despite all the joy about the great willingness to help, there were also quiet and depressing moments in Großharrie. "When you take a young mother on a help tour who now has to leave her just 18-year-old son and husband behind at the border, or see the current pictures from your circle of friends, you could despair," Krumpeter said. And when women are trafficked into prostitution at the border, that is a particularly despicable act, he said. However, Krumpeter said, this should not be understood as a sign of his anger and sadness about the circumstances, but as a call for how important help is now at all levels. He cannot say "Thank you!" enough for the support he is currently receiving. In the meantime, a friend has even founded an aid association. The aid project is to be further developed under the name "Grülo hilft". From Großharrie, the journey continued on Tuesday to Hanover and from there via Poland towards Ukraine. The last leg is driven by a friend, said Max Krumpeter, who took his annual leave for his aid project.