When the call came that war expellees from the Ukraine were to be brought to Austria, Manfred Menges did not hesitate. Together with his colleague Frank Fonferek, he got into a bus and set off on the approximately 1,100-kilometer journey from St. Marienkirchen an der Polsenz (Eferding district) to the Polish-Ukrainian border. They were back around 40 hours later, with seven refugees on board.
According to the state, around 1,200 displaced persons from the Ukraine are currently housed in 14 quarters in Upper Austria, and another 2,000 are likely to have found accommodation privately. It is people like Manfred Menges who have contributed to this.
“We have had a sales partner in the Ukraine for twelve years,” explains Menges, who heads the Medical Systems division at Sanova in Gallspach (Grieskirchen district). “When the war broke out, we told them that if they needed help, we would get them.” The call was not long in coming. So Menges and Fonferek drove off in a bus that the sports club had made available to them. It was to be almost two days before they were back in St. Marienkirchen with their four wives and three children. Two people wanted to travel to relatives in Italy. Menges was looking for accommodation for the five others – a doctor who had fled with her children, her sister-in-law and her mother: “Two acquaintances, Birgit and Bernhard Pölzlberger, provided an apartment in Wels free of charge.” He helped set up the apartment and register the family, organized German lessons and supported the doctor and her sister-in-law in looking for work. “They’re glad to be safe,” says Menges. “But when the children draw, the pictures are very somber. And they don’t know when they’ll see their father again, he’s in Ukraine. They can only talk to him on the phone.”
The war in Europe is affecting, and there is also the personal connection to Ukraine, Menges explains his willingness to help – and why he wants to report on it: “I hope that as many people as possible will help.”
73 orphans in the Attergau
After a day-long journey, 73 orphans between the ages of seven and 18 arrived in St. Georgen im Attergau from the Ukraine yesterday. They were taken to Austria in two buses together with four teachers and a nurse from Lviv (Lemberg). “They are overjoyed to finally be away from the war,” said one caregiver.
donation account
The donation account of the Red Cross Upper Austria for its humanitarian commitment in Ukraine: AT83 3400 0002 0011 3654 SWIFT: RZ00AT2L, purpose: Ukraine
Source: Nachrichten
