Alumni: how to show solidarity with Ukraine?

The UN estimates that one million people have been displaced within Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion, in addition to the hundreds of thousands who have fled the country. The HEC Alumni Association is mobilizing to identify solidarity initiatives and allow you to contribute.

» While the Ukrainians resist with courage, honoring the democratic ideals that we defend, our thoughts are with our fellow HEC graduates in Ukraine, their families, and all the Ukrainian people”, says Adrien Couret, HEC Alumni Association’s President.

Together with our HEC Alumni Chapter in Ukraine and the HEC-Ukraine student association, we have launched a few actions to help, as much as we can, our fellow graduates and Ukraine. Here are some of them:

• The creation of a WhatsApp group HEC Alumni in Ukraine, which allows Alumni in Ukraine and in bordering countries to communicate, express their needs and share offers of support for our graduates and their families.

• Identifying members of our community who can help, including offers of accommodation for refugees from Ukraine, especially for the families of our Ukrainian students. To offer your help, contact Ophélie Martinel.

• We are seeking to identify opportunities to provide and deliver basic necessities (food, clothing, etc.), protective equipment for civilians (helmets, vests, etc.) and medicines to Ukraine through our HEC networks. Our Club in Poitou-Charentes is already preparing a collection.

If you have any suggestions, please contact Georgiy Grokhovsky (E.10), President of the HEC Alumni Ukraine Chapter (currently in France).

• We have also called upon some of our graduates that are locally-elected officials to ensure that their towns will support us in welcoming the persons displaced by the conflict; the Ukrainian students on campus, who are very mobilized, are in contact with the city hall of Jouy-en-Josas on this subject.

• To offer your help in coordinating with local elected officials in your area, contact Valerii Dudin (H.22), President of the HEC-Ukraine Student Club.

• We are preparing a fundraising campaign, for the benefit of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The UNHCR supports a number of key missions: it coordinates NGOs on the ground (in Ukraine and on the borders of Ukraine) in order to provide protection at the border (legal, administrative, translation, moral support…), emergency shelter as well as emergency aid, in kind and financial. You will soon receive a special communication concerning this call for donations.

• At last, we are working in close coordination with the School, the Foundation and the students to align our actions. Several support initiatives are being put in place for students and staff affected by the crisis.

To go further, here is a non-exhaustive list of NGOs to help civilians and refugees in Ukraine:

Humanitarian

UNHCR

Care

Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal

UNICEF Ukraine Crisis Appeal

NGO that assists internal refugees

PLAST – Ukrainian Scouts of France

Donations for the needs identified by the Ukrainian embassy in France

Come Back Alive

Ukrainian Women’s Veteran Movement

Medical Aid