A global relief campaign
At the beginning of 2024, RC Worms-Nibelungen received an inquiry from near Boston-USA (RC Weston/Wayland). The friends on the other side of the Atlantic wanted to make a contribution to improving the medical care of the population in Ukraine and asked the people of Worms for support. An American member, Dr. Robert Blackburn (formerly RC Worms) knew that there were possibilities in Worms to bring aid to the war zone.
Need for aids known
Together with his club friends Katya Portnaya, Richard DeVito Jr. and President Vera Dias, they accompanied the project in America. At the Worms-Nibelungen, planning began for the purchase of medicines worth US$ 26,000. A hospital in Brovary, a district of Kiev with which there are personal contacts from America, was chosen as the destination in Ukraine. So the exact need for the aids on site was also known.
The Worms-based company used the contact of one of its members to the management of Stada, a global player in the pharmaceutical generics sector, to find a solution. They owe this contact to Fritz Klöter, the brother of the recently deceased Past District Governor Hildegard Dressino. Through this mediation, the Rotary Club Worms-Nibelungen was able to buy at very reasonable prices. Thanks to the patience of Fritz Klöter and the board of directors of Stada, the strict EU requirements for delivery could be met. In addition, Stada supported with a free additional delivery of 5,000 packs of pantoprazole – a product that is much needed in Ukraine to inhibit stomach acid production. The pharmacy sales price of this drug alone is over 100,000 euros.
Medication arrived
The Worms Rotarian Maxim Juschak organized the transport to Ukraine and used a car for this purpose, which remains in Ukraine and is converted into an ambulance there. The vehicle, worth almost 10,000 euros, was donated by his own aid organization Ukrainehilfe-Worms. The delivery has now arrived safely in the east and the medicines have been handed over to the hospital.
The participating clubs would like to thank Fritz Klöter as well as the CEO and CFO of Stada for their great support of this international aid project. With this global campaign and the existing network, Rotary was able to generate multiple added value for a humanitarian project through the cooperation of the American and German clubs from its own relief measures.
